Naruto Uzumaki and the Nine Tails Jinchūriki
by EyePhoenix
Summary: Naruto embarks on his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his friends, but soon finds a strain on his friendship with Iruka and his school friends. Especially in light of a dark secret that has been kept from Naruto for twelve years. Rated T for later use of language. Naruto!Hogwarts AU
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: hello again, this is the second fiction in my Naruto!Hogwarts AU (the first being Naruto Uzumaki and the Rise of a Wizard which can be found via my profile) I'm still working on this fan fiction so I was thinking about uploading new chapters monthly as opposed to my usual weekly updates, this will give me times to review what I've written and continue dealing with personal issues between writing.**_

 _ **I'd to say a big thank you to those who supported me throughout my last fan fiction and an apology for the long wait. I've enjoyed writing again and hope I'll continue to do so throughout this publication.**_

 _ **This is currently an unbeta'd fanfiction but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**_

 _ **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and any Harry Potter hard terms and themes belong to J K Rowling, please support the official releases.**_

 _ **Summery: Naruto embarks in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his friends, but soon finds a strain on his friendship with Iruka and his school friends. Especially in light of a dark secret that has been kept from Naruto for twelve years.**_

* * *

The sun beat down over London; the roads and pavements were packed with commuting sightseers and Londoners - many huffed impatiently or would waste their breath in yelling insults to one another while others remained blissfully oblivious to anything that wasn't within their immediate surroundings. Drivers tooted their car horns and revved their engines at the pedestrians who used the still traffic as an opportunity to cross the busy roads or just passed through oncoming traffic without a care in the world. Due to the large population - and the time of year, of course - the train lines were just as stuffy and claustrophobic; this made the journey to Birkenhead Orphanage a rather unpleasant one for one Iruka Umino.

The brunette haired man suspected that there was something amiss when he had first stepped foot onto the underground train station and boarded a train on the Central Line; he had assumed that the other passengers had been giving him quizzical stares due to the large scar that stretched across the bridge of his nose - even in the wizarding world, this feature drew much unwanted attention - but the brunette was beginning to wonder if there was a different reason for their gawking. He tried to diffuse the awkward situation by giving the other passengers a small smile in greeting or pretending that he hadn't noticed their stares by shifting his own gaze to the windows. The staring had continued after Iruka had disembarked from the train and returned to the bustling streets that resided above the London Underground; he was certain that he had heard a few murmured comments from the odd by passer.

Iruka shrugged off his experience as he jogged up a set of stone steps that led to a large wooden door with peeling silvers letters above it that read 'Birkenhead Orphanage'. The brunette grinned to himself a little as the memories of his first visit came back to him and he rang the doorbell, he then waited patiently while humming to himself happily.

Iruka waited a few moments before he rang the doorbell again; he wondered if he should've sent Naruto an owl to forewarn the boy of his visit - but he wanted to surprise the boy. Judging by the letters that he had received from Naruto since July, the young blond had been having a rough time at the orphanage, this was the reason why Iruka wanted to take Naruto out of the orphanage for a day trip to Diagonal Alley - the brunette had even gone to the trouble of getting Naruto's shopping list from Professor Dumbledore.

The brunette haired huffed as he fidgeted impatiently and pressed the doorbell once more. He glanced about himself; feeling even more self-conscious at the fact that he was still being ogled by the Muggles who were passing by on the pavement below.

"Good afternoon!" Iruka forced a friendly smile over his shoulder and waved at a man who was taking his dog for a walk in the summer sun. "Lovely weather." Iruka added with a slight nod at the sky while the man closely surveyed Iruka with a calculating expression.

Iruka gave a startled jump as the wooden door in front of him opened rather abruptly and he came face to face with a familiar looking woman - who he recognised to be Mrs Birkenhead; the woman who managed Birkenhead Orphanage.

"M- Mr Umino?" Mrs Birkenhead gave the man an astonished look as she hastily surveyed him.

"Ah, Mrs Birkenhead." Iruka greeted the woman with a large grin and a handshake. "You remember me, right?"

The speechless woman slowly nodded; shifting her gaze to the pavement below - where Iruka was still drawing the attention of passers-by.

"Why don't you come inside, Mr Umino?" The woman stepped to one side and frantically beckoned at the brunette haired man into the orphanage.

"Thank you." Iruka inclined his head as he stepped over the threshold.

Mrs Birkenhead quickly closed the door behind Iruka while the man observed his surroundings with interest.

"I came to speak to Naruto." Iruka told Mrs Birkenhead. "I hope I'm not imposing on you by turning up unannounced."

"O- of course not." Mrs Birkenhead shook her head and adopted a warm smile as she motioned towards a wooden staircase. "If you would like to follow me please." The woman began to ascend the staircase with the brunette following in her footsteps. "I'm sure Naruto will be excited to see you. His bedroom is number Twelve A; straight down the bottom of this corridor. Although, you should know Mr Umino, Naruto has locked himself in his bedroom since yesterday morning."

"Oh?" Iruka frowned quizzically.

"Naruto's been refusing his meals and he won't speak a word to anyone; not even those of my matrons who he regards as close friends." Mrs Birkenhead added the lie easily with a saddened tone as two of her assistants passed through the corridor; staring at Iruka curiously as they slowed to a halt behind Mrs Birkenhead. "We can't get him to open the door and the spare key has gone missing - I'm sure he's taken it! He's been rather defensive since one of the other children had a bit of an accident."

"An accident?"

"She fell down the stairs." Mrs Birkenhead confided in Iruka in a quiet voice and with a solemn look upon her face. "Naruto was the only other person present at the time."

"Surely he wouldn't have -" Iruka's frown deepened.

"Let me speak to him, I'm sure he'll talk to me." Iruka reassured the woman as he started heading towards Naruto's bedroom. "I'll let you know if he tells me anything about the incident." Iruka called back over his shoulder; knowing that he wouldn't stick to his word - even if Naruto had been implicated.

"What's that man wearing?" One of the assistants whispered in Mrs Birkenhead's ear as she nodded towards Iruka's strange attire.

The man was wearing yellow football shorts and a pale blue shirt beneath a tattered poncho along with a pair of tanned sandals and red socks; a fishing hat was perched haphazardly upon his head - it was sticking up unevenly where Iruka had tried to conceal his messy ponytail beneath the fishing hat.

"I haven't a clue." Mrs Birkenhead murmured back as they watched Iruka move further down the corridor. The three women shared a small shrug and decided not to question the matter anymore. "When the man leaves, come and tell me straight away." Mrs Birkenhead added in a quieter undertone. The two assistants nodded before each of the women separated to return to their individual tasks.

Iruka stopped in front of the door with the worn, metal number twelve and a crooked 'A' nailed into the wood and rapped his knuckles against the wood of the door.

"Naruto." Iruka called through the door. "Is it alright to come in?"

The brunette waited a few minutes for blond to answer; calling out to the blond every now and again - he even pressed his ear to the door to listen silently for any movement within the room beyond as he tried the door handle; but quickly discovered that it was locked, as Mrs Birkenhead had said it would be.

The man swiftly glanced down toward the end of the corridor to make sure that he was quite alone before he retrieved his wand fro, the elastic waistband of his shorthand aimed it at the lock on Naruto's bedroom door.

"Alohamora." He muttered; grinning smugly to himself as the door swung open and he stepped inside - the smirk quickly slid off of his features as he came face to face with a vacant bedroom. Iruka quickly shut the door behind himself. "Naruto?" He called out more urgently as he tore across the room, dropped to his knees and checked under the bed. "Naruto?" Iruka called out again; checking the Naruto's bathroom and wardrobe this time - he was surprised to see that the boy's Hogwarts trunk and clothes were missing too. "That little sh-"

"Is everything alright?" Mrs Birkenhead's issued from the other side of the door.

"Er… yes of course." Iruka lied quickly. "He's being as stubborn as always, we'll be with you in a few minutes." The man added with small chuckle.

Iruka waited until he heard Mrs Birkenhead's footsteps fade away before he conducted another brisk search of the bedroom for the missing blond.

After his second search proved to be as futile as his first, Iruka perched himself on the edge of Naruto's bed and closed his eyes while he thought of a solution to his current predicament.

* * *

"Mrs Birkenhead." Iruka called from the top of the staircase as he and a blond boy - who was wearing an orange and blue jumpsuit - began their descent. "I hope you don't mind, but I want to take Naruto with me today. He needs to get his supplies for the new school year, so we have a bit of shopping to do." The brunette held up a parchment envelope for Mrs Birkenhead to see.

"Yes, of course." Mrs Birkenhead gave Iruka the pleasant smile that she usually reserved for foster parents. "If you could just step into my office, we'll go over the usual paperwork and then you two can be on your way."

"Just wait here for me, okay Naruto?" Iruka instructed the blond as he followed Mrs Birkenhead.

"Right." Naruto nodded; leaning against the wall beside Mrs Birkenhead's office door with his arms folded while he hummed to himself quietly - he examined his surroundings as he waited for the brunette's return. He spotted three of the younger children; running from one room to another and giggling while they chased each other. "Hey there!" Naruto grinned brightly.

The three orphans stopped in their tracks to give Naruto an odd stare before they shared uneasy glances with each other and began to whisper behind their hands.

Naruto arched a curious eyebrow at the children and pushed himself away from the wall. "I don't bite, y'know." He told them as he began to walk towards them; but as soon as he took so much as a step closer to the three children, they backed away from him - as though they were horrified to be within his vicinity - the three children then ran back into the room that they had originally come from; slamming the door behind themselves.

"That was weird." Naruto muttered to himself with a dumbfounded expression as he returned to his position outside Mrs Birkenhead's office door.

Minutes later, a boy - who appeared to be slightly older than Naruto - entered the hallway through the door that the three youngsters had disappeared through. The older boy's eyes instantly locked with Naruto's and narrowed into a glare.

"Uzumaki." The other boy snarled. "Did you really think that you could pick on Casey, Tommy and Darren and get away with it?"

"I - what?" Naruto spluttered in confusion. "I didn't pick on anyone!"

"Then you tell me why Casey is in there eying her eyes out!" The boy pointed towards the door that he had come through.

"I don't know!" Naruto replied defensively; quickly realising that the boy was talking about the three children who had been playing in the hallway moments ago. "All I did was say hello to them."

"So what, you're trying to be our friend now? You're trying to get close to us so we'll fall into your next trap?"

"Look, I think there's been a misunder-"

"I'm not buying it." The boy cut across Naruto as he squared up to the blond. The boy grabbed the white collar of Naruto's jacket as he balled his free hand into a fist "I know it was you who stole Casey's photo of our parents - you're jealous because we knew our parents, aren't you? I bet you did push Lucy down those stairs too."

"I didn't push anyone down the stairs!" Naruto retorted furiously. "And I don't know anything about any photos!"

"Then why is Lucy too scared to tell us what happened?" The other boy growled; shaking Naruto by his collar. "Weird things happen when you're around, we were all happier when you were gone."

Naruto tried to shrug out of the other boy's grip.

"Naruto, are you ready to go?" Iruka's voice asked as he and Mrs Birkenhead stepped out of the office - as soon as the door creaked open, the boy had let go of Naruto's collar and had taken a swift step backwards.

"I -" Naruto stared between the boy and Iruka. "Yeah."

The blond followed Iruka out of the front door; giving Mrs Birkenhead and the other boy a final glance before the door swung shut after Iruka and Naruto had crossed over the threshold. He followed Iruka down the road until they reached a small alleyway without saying a single word to the older man; instead he silently dwelled on the other boy's words.

"Weird things happen when you're around, we were all happier when you were gone."

"Right, I think this should be alright." Iruka muttered more to himself than to Naruto as he gazed around to make sure they couldn't be seen by any passing Muggles; his voice pulled the blond out of his stupor. "If I had known about this alleyway, I would have apparated here instead of travelling by train, but there's too many Muggles to consider anyway." The brunette reasoned with himself. "Oh well." Iruka raised his index and middle fingers of his right hand to form a single hand seal. "Release!"

Naruto disappeared in a plume of smoke leaving Iruka quite alone. The man's lips curled downwards into a grimace as he gained the memories from his transfigured shadow clone.

"Please don't tell me that you're involved in any of this, Naruto." Iruka sighed to himself as a worrisome expression spread over his face.

After a moment of thought, Iruka withdrew his wand again and spun on the spot. He disappeared from the alleyway with a loud crack.

* * *

Iruka stumble slightly as his feet slammed against the cobblestoned pavement. He straightened himself up as he came face to face with a brick wall in a small courtyard behind a shabby looking building; the brunette swiftly tapped the bricks with his wand and waited patiently as the bricks wiggled and slid into place to form an archway - revealing a bustling alley full of shops and stalls.

"If he's not here, he must've got himself lost somewhere in London." Iruka muttered to himself; hoping that his statement wouldn't prove to be true.

He manoeuvred himself through the crowd of shoppers and between displays and stands that stood outside of the many shops; even in this mass, a bright orange jumpsuit would be hard to miss.

"Iruka?" A familiar voice reached the brunette's ears.

Iruka whirled around on the spot and his eyes fell upon a man who had white hair that was swept to one side; he was wearing a navy blue, long sleeved t-shirt with matching trousers and a bandana that covered at least two thirds of the man's face - including his right eye.

"Kakashi." Iruka inclined his head at the other man while simultaneously watching out for the elusive blond. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking up some new supplies." Kakashi replied; holding up a bag full of potion ingredients along with another full of books for Iruka to see. "It would've probably been easier to send an order by owl, but it's nice to get out every once in a while."

Iruka quirked a suspicious eyebrow at the books. "A new volume of Make Out Paradise by any chance?"

"No, still waiting." Kakashi chuckled as he ruffled his hair with his free hand.

"I wonder." Iruka mused to himself before speaking up a bit louder to address the white haired man once more. "Do you think you can help me? I can't find -"

"Naruto." Kakashi finished the sentence for the brunette. "Don't worry, he's alright."

"Huh?" Iruka tilted his head to one side with a bewildered expression. "How do you know?"

"I've just seen him." Kakashi gave another laugh.

Iruka felt a scowl spread across his face. "Oh really? Where is he?"

"Hm? He's at Ichiraku's ramen stand." Kakashi replied in a slow voice as he eyed Iruka suspiciously. "I was under the impression that he was with you."

"No." Iruka fumed. "He snuck out of the orphanage."

"And got all the way to Diagon Alley on his own?" Kakashi asked in a surprised tone. "Well, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't impressed."

"I can't believe this kid! What an idiot!" Iruka shook his head furiously. "Thanks for your help, Kakashi. I'm gonna go and get the knucklehead."

"Uh oh. Looks like someone's in trouble." Kakashi sniggered to himself; following Iruka as the brunette headed further into the crowd. "I can't wait to see this!"

"This kid is going to be the death of me." Iruka tutted under his breath and shot Kakashi a reproachful glare as the silver haired man began to chuckle to himself again. "It's not funny, Kakashi!" He barked at the other man over his shoulder.

"I'd rather you than me." Kakashi held his hands up defensively; feeling thankful that he had his bandanna to hide his smirk. "I had enough of him last year, it's your turn now."

"How long ago did you see him?" Iruka asked impatiently; deciding to make use of Kakashi presence as they navigated their way towards the familiar ramen stand.

"Only a few minutes ago." Kakashi answered; speeding up into a jogging pace in order to keep up with the brunette. "May I ask, what's up with your outfit?"

"My outfit?" Iruka asked; glancing down at his attire with a small frown. "I was blending in with the Muggles."

"Ah, of course you were." Kakashi pursed his lips to hold back another bout of laughter. "There he is." The white haired man pointed towards a boy with vibrant blond hair and three infamous whisker-like markings adorning each of his cheeks. The boy was wearing his usual orange and blue jumpsuit that made him stand out in crowded places such as Diagon Alley.

The boy was chatting animatedly with three other boys; one who had short brunette hair and was carrying a small white dog on his head, another who had red hair and wore shabby clothes and the last boy who had his hair tied back into a ponytail that was similar to Iruka's and seemed to be half listening to Naruto and his friends with a bored expression. The four boys were helping themselves to bowl of ramen while Teuchi and his daughter happily joined in with their conversations in between cooking more noodles and serving other customers.

"Ah, I see he's caught up with Mr Weasley and Mr Inuzuka." Kakashi observed; although he didn't recognise the last boy, he had often seen him talking talking to Naruto during their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Naruto, you knucklehead!" Iruka rounded on the blond; making Naruto flinch and turn in his seat. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Iruka!" Naruto tried to greet the older man with a grin; but his smile quickly faltered. "What are you wearing?"

"Never mind what I'm wearing! How could you just leave the orphanage like that?" Iruka lectured the blond. "What would you have done if you got lost? How did you even get this far on your own?"

"It's easy to sneak through the barriers at train stations when you're as small as I am, y'know." Naruto told the brunette haired man nonchalantly. "And if I get caught, I can just put on the water works and tell the station guard I was looking for my mum or something, that kinda stuff always works so all I really had to do was remember which station we got off as last year. Besides, London has maps everywhere, I wouldn't have got lost."

"Pfft, yeah right!" Kiba snorted into his ramen while Akamaru gave a happy yap. "You did get lost, you were just lucky that Hana recognised you."

"Shut up, Kiba." Naruto shot back at his friend.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Iruka warned Naruto in a low voice.

"Alright, alright, I won't do it again." Naruto huffed as he waved Iruka's comment away.

"It's not just that." Iruka frowned. "Mrs Birkenhead told me what happened the other day."

Iruka's last sentence was met by curious stares from Kakashi and the blond's school friends.

Naruto's expression instantly dropped into a scowl. "There's no way I'm taking the blame for that, I didn't even do anything!" Naruto growled as he jumped off of his seat - promising Kiba, Bill and Shikamaru that he would return shortly - before tugging on Iruka's poncho and moving further away from Ichiraku's Ramen. "She tripped on a toy and fell down those stairs and I tried to catch her before she fell. She won't tell anyone what happened, so I got the blamed for pushing her down the stairs." Naruto told the older man bluntly in a low voice and with a hard stare.

"Why didn't you just explain that to Mrs Birkenhead?" Iruka enquired; feeling his grimace deepen.

"Because she hates me." Naruto answered simply with a shrug. "They all do. They won't listen to what I have to say."

A lump rose in Iruka's throat. "Okay, but what about the photo?"

"What photo?" Naruto wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"The photo of the girl's parents, it's gone missing." Iruka pressed. "I think her name was Katie… Cassy -"

"Casey." Naruto corrected the man with a quizzical expression.

"That's it, they seem to think you stole her photo."

"Stuff goes missing in that orphanage all the time." Naruto heaved a deep sigh. "Besides, it's not unknown for the other orphans to hide stuff just to get others in trouble. They think it's funny."

"And your bedroom door key is -"

"Right here." Naruto pulled out a silver key from his pocket. "If she was really that worried about me, she would've kicked the door down yesterday. I guess she'll change the lock now though so this is useless." The blond fiddled with the key for a moment before staring at Iruka coolly again. "Anything else you wanna interrogate me on?"

Iruka surveyed the blond closely for a moment before he slowly shook his head at Naruto. "No, I believe you."

Naruto pouted at the brunette as he turned away and walked back to his friends at the ramen stand; leaving the guilty lump in Iruka's throat to swell for having doubted the boy in the first place.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I'm updating a little bit earlier than I had originally planned (the next update wasn't going to be until 10th September) but I have got a lot going on at the moment and September is back to school for some of you guys (if you go to school *shrugs*) and a slightly busier time for me with work and home life anyway, so I thought I would update while I have the chance to.**_

 _ **I'm afraid this chapter is relatively short in comparison to the chapters in Rise of a Wizard and the previous chapter, but I hope you guys like it all the same I'm not sure if I'm 100% convinced myself if I'm being honest I know I've left a lot of questions unanswered in this chapter and I'm sorry to have to ask you to be patient with me please, they will be answered in later chapters/ fan fictions.**_

 _ **I would like to say thank you to everyone who favourited and followed Rise of a Wizard and Nine Tails Jinchūriki; especially to pinkdoughnuts, your review made me smile. And to Warsameking, I'm sorry that I haven't replied to your inbox yet (I'm terrible) but as I said earlier, I've had a few things on my plate at the moment.**_

 _ **I apologise in advance for any spelling and grammar mistakes I have made, I plan to enable the speak function on my tablet or phone and correct these soon.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy this chapter.**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

Iruka had agreed to meet up with Naruto later that evening in the Leaky Cauldron - the shabby pub that aided in concealing Diagon Alley from the muggle world. The brunette had decided to let the blond spend time to catch up with his school friends while Iruka accompanied Kakashi back to the pub; the older man hoped that the space between himself and he blond might help ease his guilt for doubting Naruto earlier.

"Good grief." The brunette heaved a tiresome sigh. "Who knew that one kid could be so much trouble?"

"You don't know the half of it." Kakashi mused quietly as he retrieved a small orange tome from his back pocket. "Try being stuck in a castle full of them for a year. Has the Ministry found any new leads on Orochimaru?"

Iruka frowned to himself; Orochimaru had been the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry over the course of the previous year, but a month before the school year drew to a close, it had come to light that Orochimaru had been manipulating a student into researching topics that were strictly forbidden and had even intended to use Naruto to execute his plans; endangering the young blond's life in the process.

The result of these events had ended with Naruto and two of his school friends; Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, taking matters into their own hands - the trio had unknowingly played right into Orochimaru's hands and had almost given the man what he sought after. If it wasn't for Kiba Inuzuka and Bill Weasley's terrible lying abilities, Iruka was certain that the ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would have been able to carry out his dastardly plans. The man in question had promptly fled the castle at Kakashi Hatake and Professor McGonagall's arrival. After the incident, Orochimaru's office was searched thoroughly and the research papers that remained were recovered then handed over to the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic - where an investigation was currently underway.

Professor Dumbledore had had to collect statements from Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura at the request of Ibiki Morino; the current head of the Auror Department, and the Minister of Magic herself; Millicent Bagnold.

Iruka heaved another heavy sigh as he reflected on the events of the previous month. "I've spoken to Alastor Moody; he's a friend of mine in the Auror Department. He was quite reluctant to discuss the subject, but fro, what he's told me, it doesn't sound like they've found any traces of Orochimaru - they've even started a public appeal -"

"I saw." Kakashi nodded slowly as he recalled reading the small article in the Daily Prophet. "I'm surprised the Daily Prophet was so blasé about it, they usually blow stuff like this out of proportion."

"There's no story of the journalists can't get their hands on the information." The brunette pointed out; wrinkling his nose slightly at the mention of the Daily Prophet. "Anyway, the Aurors aren't even sure if Orochimaru is still in the country." Iruka turned back to their original conversation in a quiet voice. "It's caused a bit of an issue within the Magical Law Enforcement Department- from what I've heard, they're reviewing laws and restrictions on chakra users."

"Can they do that?" Kakashi enquired in a curious tone as he and Iruka entered the shade of the Leaky Cauldron; both of them were silently thankful that they were no longer under the sun's intense glare.

"Technically no." Iruka hummed to himself thoughtfully. "I don't think it's something that's really within the Ministry of Magic's jurisdiction, but I guess that they could introduce laws that restricts chakra and magic integration."

"I see." Kakashi mused. "But there's no way to tell if chakra and magic have been combined without being present at the time." The white haired man frowned at Iruka.

"Exactly." Iruka gave a small nod. "That's why there have been a few complications."

"Also, no one has successfully combined magic and chakra anyway. It's too much for the human body to handle. "Kakashi's frown deepened. "Anyone who's tried is has died, except -" Kakashi let his sentence trail off as he stopped in his tracks; enthralled in his contemplation.

"Tsunade Senju." Iruka finished for the other man. "But people are still attempting it and it's becoming dangerous." Iruka heaved a weary sigh. "Has Dumbledore found a replacement for Orochimaru yet?"

"Apparently." Kakashi replied in a slow voice as he trailed through his memories. "I spoke to Minerva McGonagall about it, but I can't remember the guy's name." The young professor admitted to Iruka; sheepishly ruffling his own hair.

"Typical." Iruka rolled his eyes and tutted quietly.

"I'm just glad it's not me. Professor Dumbledore offered it to me again." Kakashi's smile faltered. "The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher never last longer than a year. I'm sure the job is cursed."

"Don't be silly." Iruka shook his head at the other man. "It's talk like that that starts silly rumours. Honestly, you'd think that you were one of the students with the way you act sometimes, Kakashi."

* * *

Iruka had decided to stay with Kakashi for the remained of the young professor's visit to Diagon Alley; allowing Naruto to spend more time with his school friends without feeling as though he was being hounded or watched by the two adults. Kakashi had - of course - insisted that the brunette changed his clothes or at the very least re over the ridiculous fishing hat and poncho before they settled down at one of the many tables inside the Leaky Cauldron.

The two men continued to discuss the events that revolved around Orochimaru and his plans while they worked their way through a pitcher of iced Wizard's Brew in the Leaky Cauldron; both Iruka and Kakashi were fairly confident that they would not be overheard by any eavesdroppers in the hubbub of the small pub.

"I just don't understand why he would target kids." Iruka leaned back in his chair with his arms folded and a sombre expression on his face. "It just seems pointless."

"Pointless?" Kakashi glanced up from his book to stare at Iruka in disbelief. "Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?" Iruka cocked his head to one side.

"You do know what he is, don't you?" Kakashi marked his place in the small orange tome before setting it aside. "I'm talking about Naruto." The silver haired professor added after he received a mystified stare from the other man.

"What do you mean?" Iruka asked; his brow furrowed as his confusion deepened.

Kakashi cast his eye about himself and Iruka in search of anyone who might be trying to listen in on their conversation before he began to speak again - this time he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. "How much do you know about the Nine Tails?"

"The Nine Tails?" Ireland cocked his head at Kakashi again.

"Shh!" Kakashi hushed the other man and glanced around once more.

"Sorry." Iruka apologised and spoke in a murmured tone too. "You're talking about the attack on Konoha, aren't you?"

Kakashi bowed his head.

"Everyone knows about the Nine Tails – well, maybe not today's generation." Iruka grimaced as he subconsciously brought a hand up to his face and rubbed the scarred bridge of his nose. "A lot of people were killed trying to suppress the Nine Tails. Even Lord Third couldn't restrain the beast. I don't know what happened for sure, but I do know that Lord Fourth gave his life to seal the Nine Tails away for good." The brunette lowered his hand and shifted his thoughtful gaze to the ceiling. "Since then, I don't think anyone really knows what happened to the Nine Tails. Even so, the Nine Tails attack is why a lot of people left the Elemental Nations and moved to Europe - it's almost the same circumstances as the Third Shinobi War. I guess people were worried about the Nine Tails' return." He added with a small grimace.

"The Nine Tails was sealed away." Kakashi confirmed in an even lower voice; forcing Iruka to lean towards the other man just to hear what he was saying. "Are you familiar with the term Jinchūriki?"

"The power of human sacrifice. It's a term that usually used to describe an individual who is the host to a tailed beast." Iruka replied automatically.

Kakashi nodded deeply again. "And why do you think Orochimaru targeted Naruto and his friends last year? Were you able to read any of his research notes?"

"What are you getting at?" Iruka eyed Kakashi sceptically.

"Orochimaru hinted towards the Nine Tails a fair few times in his research." Kakashi confided in the other man. "Along with the Sharingan, Chakra, the Byakugan and Unicorn Blood and that's just to name a handful of essays he assigned to one of the students." Kakashi was careful not to mention Sasuke's name. "We already know that there were at least two Hyūga and two Uchiha - one of which is a friend of Naruto's - at his disposal within the castle over the last year and the Forbidden Forest is home to a number of Unicorns. Chakra can be easily explained too, so that just leaves the Nine Tails."

The brunette's eyes widened as they locked with Kakashi's. "Are… are you saying -?"

"That Naruto is the Nine Tails Jinchūriki." Kakashi finished the other man's sentence. "That my theory anyway." The young professor's tone suggested that he knew more than he was letting on, but Iruka's mind was already whirring. "I know I'm not the only one who's thinking it either." Kakashi's carried on talking without noticing Iruka's vacant expression. "A lot of the teaching staff have suspected that the Nine Tails currently resides at Hogwarts and I wouldn't be surprised if the Aurors were thinking along the same lines." Kakashi's glanced towards the brunette. "I understand if this is a lot to take in, but we can't deny the possibility -"

"The marking on Naruto abdomen; it couldn't have been a seal!" Iruka muttered to himself; the memory of the spiral pattern ran through his mind.

"- should keep a closer eye on Naruto from now on." Kakashi voice wrenched Iruka out of his stupor. "I've got a feeling that Orochimaru won't trouble himself to keep this quiet."

"Are you sure that it's Naruto?" Iruka blurted out before he could stop himself. "Maybe Lord Fourth sealed the Nine Tails away somewhere else? Naruto must've been a baby when the Nine Tails attacked, he couldn't have been strong enough to hold the Nine Tails." The brunette reasoned.

"The Nine Tails has been sealed within members of the Uzumaki clan for almost a century." Kakashi pointed out. "They're well known for their sealing techniques and strong life bonds, Naruto would have been a logical choice."

A dreaded feeling fell like a rock in the pit of Iruka's stomach as he slumped back in his chai rand frowned at his glass of Wizard's Brew.

Kakashi eyed the brunette with concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

* * *

Kakashi bade goodbye to Iruka's as the evening drew in. Naruto had returned to the Leaky Cauldron before sunset to seek out the brunette.

"Iruka!" Naruto ran towards the two older men as Kakashi gathered his belongings together. "I, heading over to Ichiraku's, you coming?"

"Again?" Kakashi gave Naruto an astonished stare. "You were there earlier."

"I really like the old man's ramen, y'know." Naruto beamed happily at Kakashi.

You need to vary your diet." Kakashi muttered more to himself than the blond.

"So are you coming or what?" Naruto asked again in an urging tone.

"Not today, Naruto." Iruka gave the blond a small smile and waved him away a little. "I've already eaten, but you go on ahead." Iruka lied.

The two men watched the energetic boy rush back out of the pub towards the small courtyard that led towards Diagon Alley.

"Be back by nine o'clock!" Iruka's called after Naruto's retreating back; he wasn't sure whether Naruto had heard him or not.

"Try not to dwell on it." Kakashi told the brunette as he began his departure; sensing Iruka's unease. "He's still the same kid you knew before."

Iruka's was only half listening to the blond boy later that night, he barely even recalled the one sided conversation; he was engrossed in his own thoughts instead and just added the odd hum of agreement and nodded his head at intervals in Naruto's ramblings.

 _"Could he really be the Nine Tails?"_ Iruka couldn't stop the same question from resurfacing in his mind over and over again; no matter how much he tried to force himself to focus on his conversation with Naruto. _"Kakashi made some good points, the Uzumaki clan members were host to the Nine Tails, but that was years ago. Surely a baby couldn't contain that much chakra, it's too much, it should have consumed him… and yet -"_ Iruka eyed Naruto with interest. _"That's definitely a seal on his abdomen, but surely I would've felt the Nine Tails chakra by now."_ Iruka subconsciously shuddered - apparently at the right moment too.

"I know right!" Naruto prattled on and sniggered at Iruka's shudder. "But I got in trouble for it anyway -"

 _"He's clueless."_ Iruka threw an astonished glance at Naruto. _"Does he even know about the Nine Tails himself?"_

Iruka cleared his throat. "Hey Naruto." He cut across the blond.

"Hm?" Naruto's head tilted and a curious expression possessed his features.

"Do- do you know anything about a beast with nine tails?" Iruka tried.

"A beast with nine tails?" Naruto's expression changed to confusion as he cocked his head to one side and stared at Iruka; waiting for the older wizard to elaborate.

"Don't worry." Iruka shook his head and grinned at Naruto. "It was something I heard a Hogwarts student mention earlier so I thought I'd ask you about it." The brunette lied easily.

"Maybe the groundskeeper; Hagrid, got a new pet. Hana told me that he's into stuff like that." Naruto suggested with a chuckle.

"I bet Hagrid would have a field day with a pet like that." Iruka mumbled as he pursed his lips.

 _"Absolutely clueless."_ Iruka shook his head again.

"You look kinda pale, are you feeling okay?" Naruto eyed the brunette with a somewhat worrisome expression.

"I've just got a bit of a headache." Iruka reassured the young Gryffindor as he rose from his seat. "I think I'm going to called it a day, Naruto." He added with a tired smile. "We've got to be up early in the morning to get your school supplies."

"School supplies?" Naruto wrinkled his nose in confusion. "But I've got everything, haven't I? We did all that last year."

"You get a new supply list every year. New books, stock up on potions ingredients, you know - stuff like that." Iruka informed Naruto. "Oh, that reminds me!" He retrieved a parchment envelope with Naruto's name on it from his pocket. "This is your Hogwarts letter, keep it safe."

"Did you pick this up at the orphanage?" Naruto enquired; taking the envelope and examining it closely.

"No, I got it from Dumbledore. I was planning to surprise you with a visit, but… well." Iruka gave Naruto a reproachful glare.

"I won't do it again." Naruto gave a small laugh as he ruffled his hair nervously.

"I'm going to bed, I'll come and wake you up in the morning." Iruka announced as he tucked his chair in and headed towards the staircase. "Don't stay up too late."

"Right." Naruto nodded at the man's retreating back as he pulled the letters out of the parchment envelope and began to read them. "Night, Iruka."

Iruka ascended the stairs without another word. He closed the door behind himself as he entered his temporary bedroom.

"Surely he would know." Iruka mused to himself as he perched himself on the edge of his bed and glared at the opposite wall. "You can't live twelve years without knowing that there's a demon beast sealed inside you." He closed his eyes and let his mind wander freely. "Could that boy really be a demon?"


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:** **just a really quick update before I set off for work, apparently the monthly update thing is something I'm incapable of because I'm extremely impatient at times.**_

 _ **A big big thank you to everyone who has followed and favourited my fafiction(s) and thank you to pinkdoughnuts for another lovely review - I'll answer you questions soon, promise. I hadn't realised how I'd been writing from Iruka's point of view, oops! That'll change after this chapter.**_

 _ **i feel as though I should put some warnings in for the beginning of this chapter so… the beginning of the chapter isn't usually something I'd try within my writings, it's not bad bad but… I dunno. I'm so helpful, I know :\**_

 _ **Hopefully, I've reduced the amount of typos in this chapter - I finally found the speak function - so I'll go back to the previous chapters at a later date when I have more time.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

 _Iruka untangled himself from a pile of rubble; coughing and choking and as a plume of dust and fine debris rose into the air - temporarily obscuring his vision._

 _"H- hello?" He called out uncertainly. "Is anyone else here?"_

 _The brunette huffed and strained as he pulled a tall slab of concrete out of his way; revealing the body of an unrecognisable man. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as though half of the man's features had been torn away by something sharp. Iruka pushed away his instinct to heave and staggered away from the lifeless man with nothing more than the desire to put as much distance between himself and the thing that had caused the stranger's untimely death._

 _He cautiously weaved between each desolate and crumbling building; noticing that the sky had been blackened with debris and the smoke of fires that continued to consume nearby structures._

 _"Ugh!" Iruka winced and glanced down at his bleeding leg; noting that he had caught it on a metal rod protruding from another pile of rubble. He stared about himself once more; taking in the destruction more attentively this time and noticing more bodies of men, women and even children this time - he felt a sense of dread fall to the pit of his stomach. Although the young man didn't recognise his surroundings, something about the scene seemed oddly familiar to him; he almost felt as though he had been here before. "Where am I? What happened around here?" He whirled around on the spot; searching for any signs of movement or indication that there were other survivors nearby._

 _With his mind muddled by panic, Iruka elected to continue his journey through the dystopian town - calling out for other survivors as he walked._

 _He felt a lump rising into his throat and his heart drop as his eyes fell upon a tattered but unmistakeable orange and blue jacket._

 _"Naruto!" Iruka murmured to himself in a barely audible whisper. "No, not Naruto!" He ran towards the heap of wreckage and snatched up the jacket to examine it closely. "Blood?" The brunette ran his fingers over the red stains that were botched over the familiar jacket and he stared about himself wildly and called out in a louder voice. "Naruto! Where are you?" He began to ran in any direction; desperately moving concrete slabs and broken pipes aside in search for the young blond. "NARUTO!"_

 _"Iruka?" The blond's voice called out faintly in the distance. "Iruka, is that you?"_

 _"Naruto?" Iruka called back; looking towards the sky and listening out for the boy again. "Naruto, it's me! Where are you?"_

 _"I'm over here." The boy called back; sounding closer this time._

 _"Don't move!" Iruka instructed Naruto; relief filling every pore in his body as he started jogging towards the place that Naruto's voice was coming from. "I'll come and find you, just keep talking to me, okay?"_

 _"O- okay." Naruto replied in a shaky voice._

 _"What happened Naruto?" Iruka enquired in an attempt to keep the boy talking. "Is there anyone else with you?"_

 _"I don't know." Naruto's voiced seemed calmer this time. "I've been alone until now."_

 _A shrill scream reached Iruka's ears; the scream reverberated in the air but Iruka could tell that it was coming from the same direction as Naruto's voice and picked up his pace into a sprint._

 _He turned around a corner and found Naruto's figure silhouetted by a screen of black smoke. Naruto appeared to be staring into the sky with two crumpled figures at his feet._

 _"N- Naruto." Iruka panted; rushing towards the boy. "Are you hurt?"_

 _"No." The blond answered; slowly turning his stare towards Iruka in an eerie manner._

 _"Who are -?" Iruka's question trailed off as the two figures on the ground finally fell into his range of vision._

 _The first was a man with brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail and a thin moustache to match. He wore a uniform composed of a navy blue long sleeved jumper with matching trousers and a green flak jacket. His expression was that of shock; his dark, glazed over eyed reflected the scene before them. The second figure belonged to a woman with long brown hair - that now obscured her face from Iruka but he recognised her nonetheless - this woman wore a uniform identical to that of the man by her side. Both the man and the woman were laying in an increasing pool of Crimson liquid._

 _"M- mum?" Iruka felt tears well up in his eyes. "Dad?" The tears spilled from the ducts in Iruka's eyes and made a track down his cheeks as Iruka stared between his mother and father in disbelief. "No, no please." He felt his knees weaken and buckle and he crumpled to the floor himself. "Not again, no. No, no no! Anything but this!"_

 _Iruka glanced up as a pair of feet stopped in front of him._

 _"N- Naruto?" He choked out in between repressed sobs._

 _The boy in question towered over Iruka; his eyes glowing in crimson red with vertical black slits for pupils. His mouth was pulled back into a wicked grin; revealing sharp fangs, rather than the boy's usual cocky grin. Even the whisker-like marks that adorned the blond's cheeks seemed bolder; giving the boy an altogether wilder look about himself._

 _Naruto bent down until he was eye level with Iruka; forcing the older man to hold eye contact with him._

 _"I am not Naruto." The boy chuckled maliciously. "I am the Nine Tails."_

* * *

"No!" Iruka woke up with a start; he sat bolt upright in his bed and stared around the room; recognising it to be the small bedroom that he had booked at the Leaky Cauldron a few days earlier. He unstuck his sweat soaked t-shirt from his chest and swung his legs over the edge of the bed until he was perched on the edge. The brunette pushed himself off of the bed and moved towards the window that faced out towards Diagon Alley; he opened the window and let the breeze play on his face - allowing himself a moment to slow his breathing down and watch as the sky began to turn a lighter shade of blue in the distance while the stars above slowly faded. "It was just a dream." Iruka told himself while he took in the view of the cobbled street below and pulled his hair out of his face; he tied it back into it's usual, messy ponytail.

With a final, sweeping glance out of the window, Iruka moved back into the room and gathered his clothes for the day - he had no desire to return to sleep - and examined himself in the mirror.

His complexion was paler than usual and his eyes seemed to be slightly bloodshot. His appearance wasn't helped by the dark circles beneath his eyes. His exhaustion was becoming more and more evident as the days went by, but sleep wasn't the easiest thing to come by when a nine tailed demon terrorised Iruka's subconscious whenever he fell asleep.

He had tried mulling over Kakashi's words over the past few days - he had even tried to find fault in Kakashi's logic but all the evidence was pointing towards Naruto; this had set Iruka's mind into overdrive. The brunette struggled to believe the young Hogwarts professor's theory when Naruto himself appeared to be a bright, friendly and normal child - and yet, Iruka could feel a barrier between himself and Naruto beginning to build up; even though he was trying to avoid the barrier from forming, he was finding the boy's company unsettling at times.

"I wonder if Naruto's noticed anything." Iruka hummed to his own reflection while retrieving a small pocket watch from the pocket of the robes that he held in his hands. "Half past five." He murmured as he closed the pocket watch with a small click and stared at his reflection again.

He shook the thoughts from his mind and instead moved into the small bathroom to prepare himself for the commute to King's Cross Station.

Once dressed, Iruka quietly passed through the corridor of the Leaky Cauldron; only pausing for a moment outside of room four and pressing his ear against the door to see if Naruto had stirred from his own slumber before continuing down the stairs to the pub below.

"Morning." Tom; the Leaky Cauldron's barman, greeted Iruka over the top of his newspaper as the brunette approached the bar. "You're up early." The other man noted in an afterthought.

"I had a bad dream and couldn't sleep." Iruka admitted sheepishly.

"Can I get you some breakfast?"

"Just a cup of coffee, thanks."

The barman gave Iruka a small nod before setting his newspaper down and shuffling off; whipping his wand out and aiming it at a fire grate in the next room as he set about himself to make the brunette's beverage - leaving the other man quite alone. Iruka heaved a sigh and cast his eyes around the darkened room before they finally landed on the newspaper that Tom had left behind.

At the top of the page were large printed letters that read The Daily Prophet, under which was a subheading and a rather large moving picture of a slim man with dull eyes that was framed by long, matted, dark hair. The man had a goatee that didn't quiet cover his whole chin. The man in the picture was wearing a filthy and tattered shirt and he was holding what appeared to be a prisoner number card. The man glared up at Iruka from the newspaper and occasionally bowed his head to hide his face.

Iruka curiously moved closer to Tom's newspaper and examined the front page closely.

"Former Death Eater released from Azkaban?" Iruka murmured aloud in a curious tone.

"Here you are, one cup of coffee." Tom announced as he returned to Iruka; making the brunette jump away from the newspaper. The barman cast his eye between Iruka's guilty expression and the copy of the Daily Prophet with a knowing smile playing on his lips. "I'm surprised that let him go." The barman mused; sliding the hot drink towards Iruka and motioning for the brunette to join him at the bar.

Iruka obliged and settled himself down on one of the stools. "I only read the front page." He told the other man.

"Igor Karkaroff." Tom grimaced at he nodded towards the glaring man on the newspaper. "He was arrested for the torture of Muggles and non-supporters of you-know-who during the war."

"So why have they let him out?" Iruka asked with a perplexed frown.

"He stood before the Wizengamot, offered them information in exchange for a pardon." Tom shook his head at the newspaper.

"They let him do that?" Iruka blinked at Tom.

"Of course they did." Tom laughed; talking more to himself than Iruka. "They're desperate for the names of you-know-who's followers, they're still hunting the rest of them down. It's all in the article." Tom pushed the Daily Prophet towards the younger man. "They've put three whole pages inside full of suspected supporters and previous trials. Apparently, the original run of the story a year and a half ago wasn't enough so they've reprinted a lot of it." Tom warned Iruka. "The Lestranges and old Barty Crouch's boy have been dragged up again; they're in Azkaban now, went without trial. Lucius Malfoy was mentioned too - and there's a few names that I don't recognise popping up in that article."

"Good grief." Iruka muttered to himself as he flicked through the pages of the Daily Prophet and skim read the story in question while Tom began to prepare the tavern for the day.

* * *

Iruka yawned widely and rubbed his eyes while his young ward loaded a metal trolley with his school trunk and a glass tank - which contained Naruto's small orange and purple toad; Gamakichi - outside of King's Cross Station. Iruka felt his eyelids dropping; even while he was standing motionless, but shook his head regularly to fight off the exhaustion that was threatening to take over him.

The brunette groaned inwardly as memories from his dream the previous night flashed across his mind again; making the older man cast a cautious glance towards Naruto as he automatically followed the boy through the throng of Muggles as they boarded their trains on their early commute to work with an unsettling sensation in the pit of his stomach.

 _"I can't think like this."_ Iruka shook his head again. _"He's just a kid."_ He tried to focus his eyes on the red swirl of the back of Naruto's jacket. _"I'm overthinking the whole thing, there's nothing to prove that Naruto's definitely the Nine Tails."_

The pair slowed to a halt in front of a brick pillar that stood between platforms nine and ten. With a quick glance of his surroundings, Naruto ran towards the pillar and passed through the magical barrier onto the concealed platform that lay beyond the brick structure - Iruka felt a small smile play on his lips as he saw the blond flinch at the last second before passing through the pillar. The older man swiftly followed in Naruto's footsteps to re-join the young Gryffindor on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Ready?" Iruka asked as he stopped to stand beside Naruto; who was taking in his surroundings with a small grin.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded slowly as he wrenched his eyes away from the familiar red steam engine.

"Come on." Iruka murmured as he led the way down the platform; towards the mass of Hogwarts students and their parents. "Let's find you a compartment."

Naruto frowned at Iruka but followed the older wizard nonetheless.

The blond watched the throng of witches and wizards as he passed through the crowds; seeking out for any of his friends. He easily spotted Sakura Haruno; a pretty girl in Naruto's year with shoulder length, pink hair and piercing turquoise eyes - she had already changed into her blue and black Hogwarts robes. She was standing with a woman who had sandy coloured hair that was pulled back into a short ponytail and a stern expression along with a man who had dull-pink hair that was styled into a shape that almost reminded Naruto of a star; his expression was much softer than the woman's and he seemed to have a mischievous gleam in his eyes - the blond assumed that the two adults were Sakura's parents - from the distance that Naruto was currently standing, it almost seemed as though Sakura was having an argument with her mother while her father added the odd comment before laughing loudly.

"That's one of your friends, isn't it?" Iruka asked as he followed Naruto's gaze to the girl in the Ravenclaw robes. "The girl with the pink hair. You mentioned her in your letters last year."

"Uh, yeah." Naruto ruffled his hair nervously and cast his eyes away from the girl in question as a blush crept onto his face.

Iruka quirked an eyebrow at the blond but elected to ignore the curious questions that floated to the surface of his mind for Naruto's benefit. The brunette turned his focus back towards the train carriages instead while Naruto glanced at the older man from the corner of his eye with another frown.

"Iruka." Naruto tried to regain the brunette's attention, but found that he was unsuccessful. "Iruka." Naruto tried again; a little louder this time.

"Hm?" Iruka hummed to show that he was listening as he peered through the train windows.

"Are you mad at me?" Naruto enquired in a quiet voice.

"Mad?" The brunette slowed to a stop once more and turned on the spot to address the blond properly. "Why would I be mad?" He gave the blond a quizzical stare.

"I dunno." Naruto gave a small shrug as he shifted his gaze to the floor like a scolded child. "I ran away from the orphanage, y'know."

"I'm not mad about that."

"You're not?" Naruto threw Iruka a perplexed glance.

"Of course not, you wouldn't do something like that without a reason, would you?" Iruka gave the young boy a comforting smile, but Naruto noticed that Iruka's eyes didn't quite meet his own.

"Will you write to me this year?" Naruto asked.

"I'll write to you every week if you want me to." Iruka chuckled as he beckoned Naruto to follow him again as he began to walk down the platform again. "I promise I will."

The corners of Naruto's mouth twitched into a small smile. "I'd like that." He muttered more to himself than to Iruka.

Naruto and Iruka finally located an empty compartment and loaded Naruto's belongings onto the train before they returned to the platform to bid farewell to each other.

"Don't you want to find your friends before the train leaves? Maybe you guys can sit together." Iruka suggested.

"I can find them later." Naruto shuffled on the spot and ran a hand through his hair awkwardly.

Iruka cast his eyes about himself and signed inwardly.

"You should be more careful this year." The brunette finally broke the silence between the pair. "Don't take matters into your own hands; if you're worried about something, you should tell a teacher. Professor McGonagall is your Head of House and you seem to get along with Professor Hatake - you can even send me an owl. Don't forget to do your homework and don't skips meals. Try not to land yourself in detention this year, oh and -"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Naruto pouted slightly as he waved away Iruka's comments.

"Sorry." Iruka gave the blond an apologetic smile. "Just… stay safe, okay?"

"Gotcha." Naruto nodded at the older man.

Iruka bit his bottom lip for a moment as he closely surveyed the blond. "Naruto, I've been meaning to ask you -"

Iruka's sentence was cut off by the shrill shriek of a whistle that sounded from somewhere on the platform; making the surrounding students swarm towards the carriages of the Hogwarts Express while they yelled their goodbyes to their parents over their shoulders.

"Iruka?" Naruto cocked his head at the older man.

Iruka glanced between the train and Naruto's confused expression. "Quick!" He ushered the young blond towards the train too.

"But you was going to ask me something." Naruto reminded the brunette as he eventually joined the rest of his peers in a queue to board the train.

"Now's not the time, it can wait." Iruka replied in a somewhat dismissive tone. "Now get on the train before it leaves without you." Iruka gave the boy one last gentle shove between the shoulder blades and took as step back to watch Naruto board the train.

"Don't forget your promise!" Naruto called back as he finally stepped onto the train.

The door slammed shut behind the boy the train shuddered into motion. Iruka watched as Naruto's face reappear at the small window in the door and the young Gryffindor began to wave with a wide grin on his face.

"Have fun and stay out of trouble!" Iruka managed a small smile as he waved back at the beaming blond.

Iruka waited until the Hogwarts Express had turned around a bend and was out of sight before he let his hand drop limply to his side and allowed his cheerful demeanour to fade away.

The brunette stood motionless; oblivious that the platform was quickly becoming more vacant as the remaining parents began to disperse.

 _"If he's really the Nine Tails -"_ Iruka let the thought trail off as he tried to shake the troublesome thought from his head and ignore the unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. _"No. There's no way. Naruto's only a child, he's not strong enough. I can even sense his chakras, so there's nothing to suggest that he can even host the Nine Tails."_ The brunette closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wander. _"But that seal is definitely a chakra based seal; it has to be containing something."_ Iruka shook his head again as his mind repeated the same thoughts and counter arguments that he had already mulled over since his conversation with Kakashi in the Leaky Cauldron. _"I'm just going round and round in circles!"_

"Are you okay, dear?"

Iruka's eyes snapped open as a woman's voice stirred him away from his thoughts. He examined the woman closely after temporarily forgetting where he was; the woman was short and plump. She had red hair and brown eyes that had a warm kindness to them. The woman was accompanied by five boys - each varying in age - and carried a baby girl in her arms; each of the woman's children had inherited the same fiery red hair.

Iruka blinked for a moment; feeling slightly taken aback. "I'm fine, thank you." He bowed his head at the woman. "I just got a bit carried away in my own thoughts." The brunette admitted with a small chuckle.

"George, Fred!" The eldest of the boys suddenly called out as two of the woman's younger children snuck away from her side and ran off down the platform - from what Iruka could tell, the two boys called George and Fred were twins and had run off with what looked like a wand in their hands.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." The woman rolled her eyes irritably. "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me." She added with an apologetic smile at Iruka.

"It's fine." Iruka reassured the woman.

"Charlie, hold Ron's hand please. Percy, stay with your brothers." The woman instructed her remaining children as she held onto the baby in her arms tighter and set off after the twins with the remaining three boys in tow.

"And I thought that Naruto was a handful." The brunette murmured to himself as he watched the witch. Iruka paused for a moment and pondered about the blond. "I need some answers." He finally decided as he whipped his wand out and disappeared from Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a crack.


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: well it looks like I might be able to switch to either weekly or fortnightly updates, this will be entirely dependable on what's going on - such as special occasions, work and holiday - but I see, to be having a bit of a quiet period at the moment (let's see how long that lasts…) I can only apologise for erratic updates, hopefully I'll be able to fall into a pattern soon_**

 ** _I would like to say a big thank you again to those who have followed, favourited and read my fanfiction - your support is greatly appreciated. A huge, huge thank you to pinkdoughnuts for another lovely review, they really do bring a smile to my face and brighten my day :)_**

 ** _I forgot to include this in my last author's note - I do believe a slap on the wrist is in order - but Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot and Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling and Warner Bros. Please support the official releases._**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

 ** _~Fox_**

* * *

Naruto had waited until both Iruka and Platform Nine and Three Quarters had fallen out of sight before he pivoted on the spot and set about himself to return to the compartment where he had left his Hogwarts trunk and Gamakichi's glass tank.

Naruto heaved a heavy sigh as his sullen mood returned; despite his mood, the young blond silently congratulated himself on his façade in front of Iruka during the past week.

 _"Iruka's been really distant lately."_ The thought that had been nagging in the back of Naruto's mind pushed itself to the surface. "Maybe he really is still annoyed with me about the orphanage thing. So we'll be back to our normal selves in no time, I just need to give him a little bit of time to forget about it." Naruto reassured himself aloud as he forced the negative thoughts out of his mind again and opened the sliding door to his compartment.

"There you are!" A boy with short, brown hair greeted the blond with a headlock.

"K- Kiba?" Naruto struggled against the other boy's grip.

"I told ya it was his stuff." Kiba smirked smugly at another boy; who Naruto recognised as his friend Shikamaru Nara - a laid back Ravenclaw who didn't like to get too involved in Kiba's excitable shenanigans.

"I never said that it wasn't." Shikamaru replied in an unfazed tone as he stretched himself out across one of the compartment seats and watched as Naruto desperately tried to relinquish himself from Kiba's grasp.

"Well, I was right anyway." Kiba retorted with an obnoxious grin; oblivious to the fact that Naruto had finally wrenched himself out of the headlock and was now massageing his sore neck. "Huh? What's wrong with you?" The brunette blinked at Naruto in confusion while his small dog; Akamaru, yapped happily at their feet.

"Still no growth spurt then, huh?" Naruto teased Kiba with a shaky grin of his own as he occupied the seat beside Chōji Akimichi - a rather plump boy who was a good friend of Shikamaru's - and let Akamaru jump onto his lap while Naruto proceeded to scratch behind the dog's ear.

"Of course he's grown!" Kiba held the dog up so that Naruto could see him better.

"He's not on about that growth spurt again, is he?" Bill Weasley's voice issued from the compartment door. "He still looks the same to me."

"He has grown!" Kiba insisted in an irked tone; he placed Akamaru on the floor to let the dog wander of his own free will.

"I'll take your word for it." Bill smirked as he took a seat at Naruto's other side.

"I told you at the ramen stand, you guys are probably used to seeing Akamaru every day, so you're not going to notice the change." Kiba added defensively as he threw himself down on top of Shikamaru's legs with a pout.

"Ow!" Shikamaru hissed at Kiba and pulled his legs out from beneath the brunette. "Watch it!"

"Stop hogging up all of the room then." Kiba pulled a face at Shikamaru and settled himself more comfortably in his seat.

"Did you get into any more trouble with that guy?" Bill asked as he turned slightly in his own seat to address Naruto; leaving Shikamaru and Kiba to bicker amongst themselves.

"What guy?" Naruto stared at Bill blankly.

"The one we saw in Diagon Alley." Kiba probed the blond; neglecting his petty argument with the Ravenclaw beside him to join Naruto and Bill's conversation instead; earning himself a kick from Shikamaru before the ebony haired boy gladly let their bickering cease. "Git." Kiba muttered out of the corner of his mouth before turning his attention back to Naruto and Bill. "He was with Professor Hatake."

"You guys mean Iruka, right?" Naruto grimaced slightly - he could've sworn that he saw Shikamaru raise an interested eyebrow at him. "No." The blond finally answered Bill's question in a deflated tone.

"So you got away with it?" Kiba asked with an incredulous expression.

"Not exactly." Naruto's lips twitched into a small, fake smile. "I think Iruka's still mad, y'know."

"What happened?" Chōji cocked his head to one side with a quizzical look upon his face.

"I forgot that you weren't there." Kiba smirked at Chōji. "Knucklehead here ran away from the orphanage he lives at and then some guy with Professor Hatake came and told him off." Kiba gave a short, amused laugh.

"Moron." Shikamaru snorted and rolled his eyes at Naruto.

"You would've done the same if you were stuck there." The blond retorted.

"Not without a proper plan."

"You're too lazy to do anything that reckless anyway." Kiba murmured; making Naruto, Bill and Chōji snigger while Shikamaru narrowed his eyes to glower at Kiba.

"So, is this Iruka like a guardian or something?" Chōji enquired; rousing the blond Gryffindor's attention again.

"Something like that, I guess." Naruto nodded thoughtfully. "I mean, he likes to write to me; just to make sure I'm okay, y'know. And he tells me off sometimes." Naruto chuckled to himself as he recalled the lecture that the man in question had given Naruto at the end of his first year. "Iruka took me away from the orphanage last year and he came back for me this year." Naruto felt a small smile spread across his features as Akamaru leapt onto his lap once more and nudged Naruto's hand and let out a little whine until the blond continued to scratch behind his ear.

Kiba cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?" He asked as he stood up and retrieved his large collection of chocolate frogs cards from his trunk while the rest of his friends shuffled themselves about into more suitable positions in order to play the game - Shikamaru begrudgingly joined in with the card game after being nagged by Kiba and Naruto.

* * *

The blond Gryffindor laughed and joked along with his friends as the City of London and the outer regions of the capital swiftly changed into a countryside without any of the five boys noticing.

Naruto had missed the familiarity that he shared with his friends at Hogwarts during his summer at Birkenhead Orphanage; if he was being completely honest with himself, he had even missed Sasuke Uchiha - a raven haired Slytherin who (in Naruto's opinion) was a self-absorbed bastard who rarely showed any interested in anyone other than himself. At Hogwarts, Naruto didn't feel like an outcast or as though he was avoided like he had the plague. Naruto truly felt safe, happy and as though he had found a happy home at Hogwarts - something that he had always dreamed of at the orphanage.

"What's going on out there?" Bill's voice stirred Naruto from his stupor.

Naruto and his friends followed Bill's gaze towards the compartment door where a few girls and some of the older students could be seen curiously peering through the compartment window.

"Who knows." Naruto murmured; giving Akamaru a gently nudge to make the dog move off of his lap. Naruto stood up, opened the sliding door and glanced up and down the train carriage. "Looks like something's going on in one of the compartments."

"Really?" Kiba joined Naruto's side with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Do you think someone's having a fight or something?"

Naruto merely shrugged at the other boy and continued to watch as students dwindled near one of the compartments further along the train; gawking at whoever was inside.

"I'm gonna go and have a look, come on." Kiba announced as he tugged lightly on the sleeve of Naruto's jacket and led the way to the compartment. "Let's check it out!"

"Kiba!" Naruto called after the other boy as he watched the small white dog run along at Kiba's heels.

"Let him go." Shikamaru yawned; taking advantage of Kiba's disappearance and stretching out across the seat again.

Naruto bit his lip indecisively as he glanced between Shikamaru, Bill and Chōji and Kiba's retreating back.

"I'll be back in a minute." The blond called back over his shoulder as curiosity got the better of him and he followed in the brunette's footsteps.

The blond Gryffindor fell into step beside Kiba and shot a sideways glance at the compartment in question while Kiba pretended to strike up a conversation about Quidditch between himself and Naruto as they walked past.

"Sasuke?" Naruto abruptly stopped in his tracks to stare at the lone student sitting in the compartment; accidentally leaving the other Gryffindor to walk ahead alone.

"Uchiha?" Kiba wrinkled his nose as he halted and turned to give Naruto a questioning stare. "I guess it was nothing but the usual Uchiha posse." Kiba rolled his eyes and headed back towards their own compartment.

Naruto cast his eyes about himself.

"These aren't the usual Uchiha posse." The blond frowned as a sixth year boy slowly strolled past; elbowing his friend in the ribs and pointing towards Sasuke with a whisper.

"Hey! Are you coming or what?" The brunette called out to Naruto.

"I'll catch up."

"Suit yourself."

Naruto surveyed the ebony haired Slytherin through the glass door; the other boy appeared to be completely oblivious to the attention that he was receiving from his passing school peers - instead, Sasuke's eyes were fixated on the scenery beyond the train window.

"Naruto?" A pink haired girl approached the blond.

"He's drawing a lot of attention today." Naruto mumbled more to himself than to the girl who was standing beside him. He narrowed his eyes into a suspicious glare as he observed the Slytherin closely. "Let's sit with our friend, Sakura."

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura tried to stop the blond, but Naruto had already opened the compartment door and stepped over the threshold.

"Why are you sitting on your own?" Naruto asked the ebony haired boy while Sakura heaved a sigh and smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead in exasperation behind the blond's back.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted uninterestedly; without moving his gaze from the window to see who was talking to him.

"Is it okay if we join you?" Sakura asked in a much kinder tone than Naruto had offered to the other boy.

"Do what you want." Sasuke replied dismissively.

"I see that you're as cheerful as always." Naruto muttered as he threw himself down in the seat opposite Sasuke's while Sakura perched herself on the seat next to the Slytherin; casting a worrisome glance at Sasuke's before shooting Naruto a sharp glare for his murmured comment.

"Are you looking forward to another year at Hogwarts?" Sakura asked the ebony haired boy; instantly dropping her reproachful demeanour and adopting a cheerful attitude as she addressed the young Uchiha.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted dismissively again; making Sakura eye the boy with a concerned look on her face once more while Naruto cocked his head to one side and regarded the raven haired Slytherin with an irked expression.

"I was thinking that maybe we could join the Potions Club together." Sakura suggested earnestly in a hopeful tone. "We didn't share any classes together last year and I think it would be a great idea to practise together - it will help us get better grades for our end of year exams -" The pink haired Ravenclaw slowly let her sentence trail off.

Sasuke finally wrenched his eyes away from the scenery outside to give Sakura an impassive glance before returning his focus to the window while the Ravenclaw girl stared at the floor with a disappointed expression.

"Jeez, what's gotten into you?" Naruto shot at the raven haired boy irritably. "Why are you so moody today? Have you had an argument with your parents or something?"

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed at the blond in an attempt to silence the Gryffindor.

"I'm going to get some air." Sasuke informed the pair bluntly as he rose to his feet and left the compartment.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out as Sasuke's robe whipped out of sight; but she was unsuccessful in her attempt to grab the Slytherin's attention.

"What's his problem?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's empty seat. "He was more antisocial than usual. All you did was ask him a few questions, would it have killed him to at least answer them properly? Why isn't he talking to us anyway? We haven't done anything wrong." Naruto ranted with a scowl. He folded his arms across his chest with an annoyed huff. "At least he hasn't called me a moron or a loser yet." Naruto added in a quiet afterthought.

"You are a moron, Naruto." Sakura tutted angrily and shook her head at the blond.

"Why?" Naruto queried defensively. "What have I done?"

"You really don't know?" Sakura quirked a curious eyebrow at Naruto.

"Know what?" Naruto tilted his head to one side with a bewildered look on his face.

"Don't you read the Daily Prophet? It was all over the front page yesterday."

Naruto shook his head with a blank expression. "I live in a Muggle orphanage." He pointed out. "I only heard news relating to the wizarding world in letters from Iruka, which we couldn't send too frequently during the day and I've been in Diagon Alley with Iruka since last Friday. Iruka never said anything and I've only really seen Kiba, Bill and Shikamaru." Naruto finished with a small shrug.

Sakura heaved a sigh and rose to her feet; beckoning the blond to follow her as she did so. "Come with me, I'll show you."

"Show me what?" Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion as he followed the pink haired girl out of the compartment further down the train. "Why can't you just tell me?"

Sakura ignored the Gryffindor and his impatient questions until she reached her own compartment -where she had been previously sitting with three other girls. Naruto recognised the first girl as Ino Yamamaka; a blonde Slytherin with blue eyes - one of which was covered by her long fringe while the rest of her hair was tied back in a high ponytail. This was the girl who Sakura regarded as not only her best friend, but also her rival - Naruto vividly remembered the two girls calling each other names such as 'Ino-Pig' and 'Billboard Brow' before their end of year feast during their first year. The girl who was sitting opposite Ino was a timid Hufflepuff with short, dark hair and pale, pupiless eyes - she adverted her gaze, stumbled over her words before she stopped speaking altogether and turned a violent shade of red as Naruto and Sakura appeared; causing Ino to glance around at the two newcomers and roll her eyes impatiently at the Gryffindor. Naruto shared his Herbology lessons with the shy girl during his first year and knew her to be Hinata Hyūga. The final girl had long, fiery red hair and surveyed Naruto over the top of her glasses as he lingered in the doorway; making the blond feel as though he had interrupted an important conversation and grin sheepishly at the three silent girls. The last girl was also wearing green and black robes to match Ino's. Despite being in the same year group and sharing a few classes with the final girl, Naruto didn't know much about her other than the fact that her name was Samantha Masters.

Sakura reached into her Hogwarts trunk and pulled out a newspaper before pivoting on the spot and gently pushing Naruto out of the compartment while excusing herself from her friends over her shoulder. With a last small smile at her friends, the Ravenclaw tugged on the sleeve of Naruto's jacket and guided the blond back towards Sasuke's now vacant compartment.

"I haven't read the full story myself yet, but the front page should be more than enough to tell you what's happened." Sakura closed the compartment door so that she could be sure that no one would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation and so Sasuke wouldn't overhear them if he was still nearby. Sakura handed the newspaper to the blond and watched his expression expectantly as the Gryffindor examined the front page.

"Uchiha Massacre Shakes Ministry?" Naruto read the headline aloud in a questioning tone; his eyes flitted towards Sakura before they quickly returned to the newspaper to reread the headline in disbelief.

A moving picture of a family of four dark haired people caught the young Gryffindor's attention.

In the picture, there was a man and a woman with their arms linked; the man had a stoic expression which was framed by his hair - that reached his shoulders - the man had visible creases beneath his eyes that made his appear much older than he really was. The woman at the man's side appeared to be almost the complete opposite of her husband; she beamed brightly out of the page, the woman had long hair with bangs that framed her pale face - she looked much younger, kinder and approachable than the man who was standing beside her. The woman's hand was resting on the shoulder of a boy who was standing at her other side; he couldn't have been much older than fourteen in this photograph, but he had already shot up to the same height as his mother. This boy also had long hair, but it was pulled back into a ponytail; complete with bangs similar to that of his mother's. This boy had inherited the same creases beneath his eyes from his father, but had Thame soft expression as his mother - something about the teenager seemed familiar to Naruto, but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen the boy before. The final figure in the photograph was unmistakably Sasuke Uchiha; but much younger. He stood in front of his mother and father with a wide, cocky grin adoring his face - something that had become very out of character for the Sasuke that Naruto knew.

Naruto shifted his gaze from the picture back towards the headline printed in bold letters above it.

"Massacre." The blond mumbled to himself; his eyes lingering on the words without really seeing or reading them. He wrenched himself out of his stupor and quickly ruffled through the pages until he found the main article; accidentally making Sakura give a startled jump at his sudden movement.

The pink haired Ravenclaw swiftly stepped closer to Naruto so that she could read the newspaper too.

 _Itachi Uchiha - a former student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - has been reported as missing after tragedy struck the Uchiha Clan at the family complex in the Elemental Nations last month._

 _A full enquiry has been launched after the murder of the entire Uchiha Clan in the village of Konohagakure. Itachi Uchiha - pictured above - is wanted for questioning and is now reportedly resisting arrest; the Uchiha's whereabouts are currently unknown._

 _Itachi's younger brother is the only known survivor of the attack and has been unavailable for interview._

 _"The young boy has been receiving treatment at a medical centre in Konohagakure and had now been moved to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries until the beginning of September." Bartimus Crouch - the Head of Department for International Magical Cooperation - said yesterday in a statement. "He will be accompanied by Aurors until his return to school in September. The Auror Department, Magical Law Enforcement Department and International Magical Cooperation Department will be working closely together with the village of Konohagakure to apprehend the missing suspect. We are urging that the wizarding community remains calm, reports any sightings of Itachi Uchiha and avoid any confrontations with the missing Uchiha._

Naruto skim read the rest of the article - picking up phrases here and there such as 'unforgivable curse', 'honourable student' and 'prodigy of the Uchiha Clan' - before he instead examined each of the photographs presented on the page closely, whereas Sakura scanned the pages attentively; Naruto had no doubt that she was trying to retain as much information as possible.

Naruto finally tore his eyes away from a picture of Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha to give Sakura an astonished stare.

"Itachi." Naruto murmured in an almost inaudible tone as he furrowed his brow again. "I recognise him."

"We've met him." Sakura told the blond.

"What?" Naruto gave the Ravenclaw a quizzical frown. "When?"

"We was in the Hospital Wing at school after the incident with Orochimaru." Sakura reminded Naruto. "Itachi came to see Sasuke, Itachi said something about always being there for him but the atmosphere between the two was almost… frosty."

"Oh yeah!" Realisation dawned on the Gryffindor's face. "But I'm pretty sure he said something about being an obstacle." Naruto mused more to himself. "And I didn't sense any frostiness, just Sasuke being his usual, stubborn self, y'know."

"Itachi seemed so nice." Sakura grimace at the gentle looking teenager in the Daily Prophet. "Did he really do this?"


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: I lost track of what chapter we're on for a second there, almost posted the sixth chapter instead, oops! Would've been a slight issue if I had, I've accidentally deleted half of the sixth chapter and now I need to retype it D:**_

 _ **Also, Google Chrome tried to correct Sasuke to Segway - I'm still pissing myself laughing over it.**_

 _ **Anyway, work had picked up again so I'm diving between Ho,e and work trying to get my odd jobs done as well as flitting between day and night shifts, so depending on how far I get with retyping chapter six and writing chapter seven, I may or may not have a late update next time - I'm sorry.**_

 ** _Also, I'd like to apologise in advance, I tried to write my own Sorting Hat Song in this chapter and it… it really sucks. But I did say I was going to try and do it so it's only fair that I let you guys see my attempt._**

 _ **I'd like to say thank you again to everyone who has followed and favourited my fanfiction and again to pinkdoughnuts for another lovely review :)**_

 ** _Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot while Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling and Warner Brothers Studios. Please support the official releases._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

 ** _~Fox_**

* * *

Naruto stumbled onto the platform at Hogsmeade Station; slightly opening his cupped hands to ensure that his purple and orange toad; Gamakichi, remained unharmed in the blond's pursuit to disembark from the train. The young Gryffindor awkwardly shrugged his robes back over his left shoulder and checked the pocket of his robes for his wand.

"Firs' years, over 'ere!" Hagrid's familiar, booming voice sounded over the chatter and hubbub of the other students; causing a small group of first years close to Naruto cast a hesitant glance in the large man's direction before they slowly shuffled towards Hagrid.

Hagrid was a large man with dark, shaggy hair and a matching beard that obscured most of his facial features from view and was wearing his usual brown, moleskin over coat and was usually accompanied by a huge dog named Fang. This man towered over everyone, even the tallest students but despite his wild appearance, Naruto knew the giant to be kind and gentle.

A small smile played on Naruto's lip as Hagrid's black boarhound bounded up and down the small platform; accidentally tripping up Rock Lee; a Gryffindor third year student who Naruto had become friends with during his first Christmas at Hogwarts. The smile quickly faded as he caught a glimpse of an ebony haired boy in Slytherin robes.

"Sasuke -" Naruto tried to follow the young Uchiha - he had wanted to talk to Sasuke since Sakura had shown the blond the news article relating to the murder of the entire Uchiha Clan; the blond Gryffindor had even tried searching the train for the raven haired Slytherin, but had found that his attempts to find Sasuke were futile - but was forced to stop in his tracks instead as a group of rowdy fourth year boys carelessly passed through Naruto's path; laughing and joking as they went by. Naruto tried once again to follow the ebony haired Uchiha, but found that he had lost the other boy once more.

"What's wrong?" Bill asked; joining Naruto's side and examining the blond's deflated expression.

"I was looking for someone." Naruto murmured more to himself that to Bill as he continued to scan the crowd.

"Probably Sakura Haruno." Kiba sniggered in a teasing tone as he and Akamaru jumped down from the train too.

Naruto shot a glare at the brunette; who continued to grin with amusement.

"How do we get up to the school?" Bill asked curiously; he watched curiously as the group of pale-faced first years surrounding Hagrid began to steadily increase.

"I thought we went across the lake on the boats." Naruto jerked a thumb towards Hagrid.

"We're not first years anymore." Kiba shook his head at the blond.

"I don't see you suggesting anything useful." Naruto shot at the brunette with a small pout.

"Didn't Hana mention anything to you about getting to the school before?" Bill cocked his head at Kiba.

The brunette paused for a moment as he traced through his memories, before he slowly shook his head at his friends again. "Not that I can remember." He finally replied.

"Maybe we should ask Hagrid." Naruto proposed with a small shrug as he started towards the giant man.

"In front of the first years?" Kiba gave Naruto an affronted stare as he grabbed Naruto's arm and spun the blond on the spot in order to stop him in his tacks. "No way!"

"Or you could just use your brains and follow the other students?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the three Gryffindors as he and Chōji finally disembarked from the Hogwarts Express. The Ravenclaw motioned towards their peers; who were slowly migrating towards out of Hogsmeade Station towards a cobbled road. "Neji told me that there are some carriages waiting for us just outside the station."

"Neji?" Naruto stared at Shikamaru with a blank look upon his face.

"He's in the year above us." Shikamaru replied in a somewhat dismissive tone as he began to walk towards the growing queue around the station's exit - with Naruto, Kiba, Bill and Chōji swiftly following in his footsteps.

Once they were out of the station, the boys approached a huge, black carriage; there was a candlelit headlamp attached to the front of the carriage. Naruto stared with a confounded expression on his face at the spot that was usually reserved for a horse or some such animal to pull the carriage - but instead found that he was staring at a vacant space and that the carriage appeared to be supporting its own weight.

"These carriages -" Naruto examined the landau closely with a suspicious stare as he cautiously approached the place where the horse should have been. "They're not pulled by ghosts, are they?"

"I don't think so." Bill shrugged as he clambered into the carriage; offering a hand to help Shikamaru up.

"Why? You're not still scared of ghosts, are you?" Kiba gave the blond an incredulous stare.

"Who's fault is that, Kiba?" Bill's voice issued from within the carriage while the brunette cast his eyes away from the blond guiltily.

"I'm not scared of them." Naruto replied in a defensively hurried tone with a nervous chuckle. "I'm just weary of them is all. And it's not all ghosts, it's just Peeves really, y'know." He admitted in a quieter voice.

"I think it's kinda like the boats from last year." Chōji mused more to himself than to the others. "It's probably just magic." He concluded with a reassuring smile at the blond Gryffindor - setting Naruto's mind more at ease.

Naruto had barely set foot onto the carriage behind Kiba and Chōji before the door had swung shut behind him and the landau shuddered into motion; causing the blond to lose his balance and fall into the remaining seat beside Kiba - accidentally landing on Akamaru's tail; making the dog yelp loudly and duck between Kiba's legs while Naruto tried to keep his grip on Gamakichi.

Naruto gave a pained groan as he straightened himself up in his seat and Kiba checked Akamaru's tail; giving the small white dog a few strokes to reassure him.

The carriage trundled through a cobbled road that was lined with small cottages and darkened shops. Naruto watched curiously as they clattered past a large, well-lit building; the blond strained his eyes to read the words that had been engraved into the wooden archway of the building.

"The Three Broomsticks." Naruto murmured to himself.

He gave a small, startled jump as the building's doors were thrown open - causing the light from inside The Three Broomsticks to spill into the cobbled street while music and laughter assaulted Naruto and his friends' ears. A short man staggered out of The Three Broomsticks and tripped over his own feet while a pretty looking woman watched him from the doors of the building and shook her head disapprovingly.

"Merlin's beard, Mundungus!" The blond Gryffindor heard the woman shout at the man as she rushed over and helped him to his feet. "You look like a fool. Come on, get up!" She added in a brisk tone; Naruto and his friends watched the woman trying to tug the man to his feet from the carriage window with bemused looks upon their faces.

"Where are we?" Naruto finally asked with a confused frown.

"Hogsmeade Village." Bill replied easily; trying to watch the witch and the man named Mundungus as the carriage proceeded to move away from The Three Broomsticks. "Hogwarts shouldn't be too far now."

"Hogsmeade Village?" Chōji surveyed the shops with interest. "Isn't this supposed to be the only all-wizarding village in Britain?"

"Something like that." Shikamaru yawned uninterestedly.

"What about Diagon Alley?" Naruto pointed out. "That's an all-wizarding -"

"Alley." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "It's just an assortment of shops, I don't think anyone actually lives there."

"Wait, so if this place is the only all-wizarding village, do you guys live with Muggles too?" The blond enquired curiously.

"I live in St Ottery Catchpole; it's a village with both muggle and wizarding families, but we rarely get involved with the Muggles." Bill explained patiently. "We live on the outskirts of the village so Muggles don't really wander our way."

"We're kinda a little more complicated to explain." Kiba told the blond with a sideways glance at Shikamaru and Chōji. "We live with Muggles, but the rules are slightly different for us. We don't have to hide our magical inheritance as much."

Bill gave Kiba a puzzled stare. "But the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy -"

"States that each governing body is to be held responsible in the concealment of magical communities within their own country - including magical beasts, misuse of magic and the use of underage magic." Shikamaru rattled off in the redheads stead; sounding as though he had swallowed a textbook on wizarding law. "These rules are different where we come from and are only in place for our protection; magic users aren't always welcome where we come from. It doesn't matter if non-magic users are aware of our presence, we have our own secrets too."

"What d'you mean?" Naruto cocked his head at Shikamaru with a questioning stare as the carriage shuddered to a halt and the door of the landau was pulled open by an invisible force.

"It's a long story." Kiba shrugged as he clambered out of the carriage with Akamaru in his arms. "Remind me to tell you later."

"I don't know why you bothered to mention it in the first place, it's too troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he followed after Kiba.

Naruto and Bill shared a questioning stare while Chōji climbed out of the carriage.

"Hurry up!" Kiba called back to the remaining two boys while he, Shikamaru and Chōji began to ascend the school steps. "I'm starving and the feast is gonna start soon!"

"Not until after the Sorting Ceremony." Chōji reminded the brunette.

"Seriously?" Kiba moaned.

Bill and Naruto followed their friends at a slower pace; each of the pair with a confused and thoughtful expression upon their faces.

"Are they from a different country?" Naruto questioned in a quiet voice.

"They can't be." Bill furrowed his brow. "Other countries have wizarding schools too."

"Maybe they got a transfer?" Naruto suggested with a shrug. "Or maybe they don't have a wizarding school in their country? Shikamaru said that magic users aren't always welcome where they come from."

"He also said that they have their own secrets too." Bill's frown deepened as he mused to himself. "Something doesn't seem to add up." The redhead was pulled out of his stupor as Kiba began to call out to the idle pair again.

"Are you two waiting for the grass to grow or something? Let's go!"

"He's so impatient." Bill rolled his eyes and began to ascend the steps towards the restless brunette with Naruto in tow. "Come on, we better get a move on before he implodes."

The three Gryffindors bade goodbye to Shikamaru and Chōji as they entered the Great Hall before they split away from each other and settled themselves down at their respective house tables. Naruto's eyes automatically flitted towards the Slytherin house table on the opposite side of the Great Hall until he found the stoic ebony haired Uchiha sitting a little further away from the rest of his peers. The Raven haired boy was resting his chin upon his entwined fingers and staring in the golden plate that was neatly laid on the table in front of him with vacant eyes.

Naruto noticed that a lot of the students within the young Uchiha's vicinity were staring at the Slytherin and whispering to each other.

Sasuke's onyx eyes quickly snapped upwards and met with Naruto's; who quickly adverted his gaze and started talking to his friends again as he settled down in the chair beside Rock Lee's. When Naruto glanced back towards Sasuke, he found that the ebony haired boy had returned to his own musings; leaving the blond to wonder whether he should have gone to the Slytherin and spoken to him.

A hushed silence fell over the Great Hall and any students who remained standing swiftly located their seats as Professor McGonagall - a stern looking witch who was wearing tartan patterned robes and had her dark hair tied back into the usual bun - entered the Great Hall; holding a spindly three legged stool and a tattered pointed hat. The witch was followed by the group of terrified first years that Naruto had seen gathered around Hagrid at Hogsmeade Station earlier. She made the first years line up around the front of the hall where she had placed the stool and the pointed hat.

The rest of the school stared at the hat in anticipation while the first years stared about themselves wildly in silent confusion.

The frayed brim of the patched hat opened wide as the hat began to sing in an odd, out of tune rhythm.

"I've been around for a thousand years or more,

Even a decade seems pass in a mere fraction of a second in my eyes,

I've seen many toils of the wizarding kind,

From the Great Goblin Rebellions,

To the grief striking Wizarding War.

Our skirmishes and prejudice ways have been inherited throughout the years,

For the purpose of our mutual goals,

Together we stand tall and strong,

We are able to unite and teach,

Separation makes us weaker,

And turns our own against us.

This fable has been passed down by our ancestors,

For it was under the power of four great friends,

That we are able to gather here today.

Ravenclaw; who was always quick witted

And ready to tackle any problem with her wisdom.

Slytherin; the dexterous fellow,

He was always committed to gaining accomplishments.

Fair Hufflepuff; she was no stranger to tribulation,

Despite this, she always remained loyal and nurturing.

And finally Gryffindor; who was headstrong

And unafraid of a challenge.

Though the four friends' trials and determination

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was born!

Although our four friends are around to continue their legacy,

I have been left in their stead to tell you where you belong.

So have a go and put me on,

I have yet to choose wrong!"

The students began to clap and cheer as the Sorting Hat finished singing it's song; leaving many of the frightened first years to ogle at the hat with bewildered expressions.

Professor McGonagall waited patiently until the Great Hall had settled down again before she cleared her throat and unfurled a long scroll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will come up to the stool and put the Sorting Hat on." The woman instructed in a sharp tone. "Abercrombie, Lois."

"Psst, Kiba!" Naruto heard Bill hiss to their brunette friends he watched Lois Abercrombie jump off of the stool and join the Ravenclaws with a large grin.

"Mm?" Kiba hummed to show that he was listening to the redhead as he adjusted Akamaru into a more comfortable position on his lap.

"I've been thinking about the International Statue of Secrecy -" Bill started.

"It's a headache, isn't it?" Kiba sniggered more to himself.

"Mm." Bill quietly agreed. "But you guys said that the rules were different where you live." The Weasley pressed in a lower voice; forcing Naruto to strain his ears to listen. "It's common knowledge that there are no exceptions. It's a law we all have to abide by." Bill added in a sharper tone.

"Yeah." Kiba acknowledged Bill's statement.

"So why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is it different for you guys?"

"You really don't know?" Kiba asked with a half astonished, half amused expression. "Seriously? I thought you were playing dumb back in the carriage!"

Naruto lost track of the conversation between Kiba and Bill as Emmanuel Bailey was sorted into Gryffindor; causing those around Naruto, Kiba and Bill to raise to their feet and cheer loudly.

" - of the Elemental Nations?" Naruto caught the end of Kiba's question.

After recognising the term 'Elemental Nations', Naruto quickly turned in his seat to face his two friends.

"Kinda." Bill replied with a small, honest shrug. "I don't know much about it."

"Right." Kiba sat in thought for a moment as he contemplated his approach. "I come from the village of Konohagakure in the Land of Fire - but you probably know it as Konoha or the Village Hidden in the Leaves. We live with Muggles, but they're not ordinary Muggles." Kiba tried to explain. "It's probably better if you ask Shikamaru about it, he'll be able to explain it better and he'll know more than me." Kiba added the last bit with a disgruntled expression.

"Not ordinary Muggles?" Naruto finally joined the conversation.

"They don't use magic, they use chakra. Where we use wands and spells, they'll use hand seals and jutsu instead." Kiba elaborated. "Apparently, it's rare to find someone who inherit both magic and chakra, but those do rarely pursue both."

"Wait a minute, are - are you a chakra user too?" Bill asked as he gave the brunette an incredulous stare.

"Of course I am."

"And you never told us?" Bill enquired; indicating to himself and Naruto.

"It didn't seem relevant." Kiba replied with another shrug.

The three boys stopped their discussion to welcome Sarah Cunningham to the Gryffindor table and waited until their rowdy peers had quiet ended down again before they continued.

"Sasuke -" Naruto started.

"What about him?" Kiba asked lazily; watching Kira Chikamatsu join the Slytherin table.

"He comes from the Elemental Nations too, right?" Naruto queried. "I read it in the Daily Prophet." He added hastily as he received a questioning glance from the brunette.

"Yeah, he lives in Konoha too - we went to the academy there together; he was an arrogant git then too." Kiba replied in an uninterested tone. "Anyway, quite a few students here come from Konoha. Shikamaru, Chōji, Sasuke, Tobio, Ino Yamanaka - I'm pretty sure her parents own a flower shop; that's probably why she's so good at Potions and Herbology - your friend Sakura, that Shino guy, Hinata Hyūga and I'm fairly certain that Hinata has a brother or something like that here too." The brunette counted them off on his fingers with a thoughtful look upon his face. "I think that's everyone."

"What about Lee?" Naruto asked quietly; motioning slightly to the boy behind him.

"How did I forget him?" Kiba muttered to himself as he watched the boy in question; Lee was calling out to a hesitant Hinamori Eda about the springtime of youth as she approached the Gryffindor table shyly. "He's quite loud and hard to miss, especially when he's around Gai."

"Gai?" Bill cocked his head at Kiba. "As in Professor Maito?"

"Yeah." Kiba gave a small nod as he case his eyes to the front of the Great Hall and began to survey the throng of first year students. "You know what? I don't think I recognise any of the first years this year. As I said earlier though, it's unusual to find a magic and chakra user who pursues both."

"Does the underage magic law still apply to your village?" Bill enquired in a curious tone.

"Unfortunately, yes." Kiba huffed with an irritable expression. "I don't understand why though; we don't have any ordinary Muggles in the Elemental Nations, the Muggles don't even know that we exist!"

"Shikamaru said that magic users aren't always welcome -" Naruto began.

"That's a bit more complicated, I don't even know much about it myself." Kiba replied with a pensive expression. "It's rare to find people who inherit both magic and chakra, but they're more common in Konoha than any other village in the Elemental Nations - in fact, I've heard a rumour that some villages prosecute and execute those who show signs of magical inheritance just to make sure they don't become spies for the wizards."

Naruto and Bill shared a horrified stare.

"That's -" Naruto struggled to find the words to convey his feelings on the matter.

"Barbaric." Bill finished for the blond with a disgusted look on his face.

"That's why a lot of witches and wizards in the Elemental Nations go into hiding, retreat to Europe or give up using magic." Kiba told the pair with a seemingly unphased expression. "Konoha is different though, although we don't have many, magic users are welcome. If one of our own is killed by another village, the Elemental Nations will be in uproar and peace treaties will be broken again. Our generation had a boom of magic and chakra inheritors, but that's mainly because of the war."

"What war?" Naruto cocked his head to one side curiously.

"The Wizarding War - the one that ended a few years ago when you-know-who met his downfall." The brunette tried to jog Naruto's memory. "During the war, loads of wizards came to the Elemental Nations for their safety." Kiba elaborated again. "The Shinobi and the wizards weren't exactly in good terms at the time, some thought the wizards were using the war as a means to spy on their villages; hence the rumours. I don't know why - my mum won't tell me or Hana anything about it really - but I know something happened between the Elemental Nations and the Wizarding World seventeen years ago; since then, the bond between chakra users and magic users has been quite fragile. Konoha ran into trouble with a group of wizards again roughly twelve years ago." Kiba shot a glare at the Slytherin table as he spoke. "I know that this is the reason why the Third Hokage isn't keen on magic."

"Third Hokage?" Naruto and Bill questioned in unison.

"He's the village leader; the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha."

"Why isn't he keen on magic?" Naruto enquired interestedly. "What happened twelve years ago?"

"How am I supposed to know? The village was attacked by Wizards, isn't that a good enough reason?" Kiba muttered in a disgruntled tone. He clapped as Scott Endsfield was sorted into Gryffindor. "It just common knowledge that he doesn't particularly like wizards, but there's a rumour that he's grandson might be one of us too. Whether or not the old man will let him learn magic is another question though." Kiba heaved a heavy sigh. "Anyway, like I said earlier, you're better off asking Shikamaru about this stuff." Kiba concluded almost dismissively as he settled himself back more comfortably in his chair to watch the rest of the sorting; leaving both Naruto and Bill to share bewildered glances before following in Kiba's lead.

"Ford, Emma." Professor McGonagall called out the name from the roll of parchment she was holding; causing a brunette haired girl to give a startled squeak before she hurried towards the three legged stool and the Sorting Hat.

Naruto allowed his eyes to wander over the faces of his peers while his mind mulled over Kiba's words. His gaze froze on the back of what was unmistakably Sakura Haruno's head before flitting towards the ebony haired Uchiha at the Slytherin table.

 _"Are they chakra users too?"_ The blond's mind began to race. _"They never said anything to me about it. They live in the same village too, they've probably grown up together and went to the academy with Kiba."_ Naruto felt a pang of annoyance course through him. _"And they never told me anything. In fact, Kiba only told me because I asked about the Muggles. Would he have told me otherwise?"_ Naruto's lips twitched into a frown.

The blond Gryffindor shook his head slightly in an attempt to clear his mind; trying again to focus his attention on the Sorting Ceremony once more.

 _"Does this chakra stuff mean that they have more powerful spells too?"_ Naruto's mind began to whirr again - despite how much he tried to shunt the thoughts away, they kept resurfacing and casting more doubt in the blond's mind. _"Am I really that far behind everyone else?"_

Naruto's brain mulled over the troublesome thoughts - his subconscious automatically asked the same questions; causing the blond to feel more and more irked. He was so preoccupied with his own contemplations that the blond barely realised that the sorting had finished and that Professor McGonagall had already whisked away with the tattered hat and the three legged stool whilst Professor Dumbledore - an elderly wizard with a long white beard and bright blue eyes that seemed to twinkle as he smiled happily at the students over the top of his half-moon spectacles, the headmaster wore midnight blue robes that was embroidered with yellow stars - rose to his feet and cleared his throat.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The wizened headmaster greeted the Great Hall joyously. "I'm glad to see the return of many old faces and the arrival of a few new faces." Professor Dumbledore beamed as he nodded towards a few first years.

"Nice to see that he's as barmy as ever." Kiba muttered into his own hand as he resting his chin in the palm of his hand while propping himself up on the table by his elbow. "I hope he doesn't rattle on forever, I wanna hurry up and eat something."

"- including a new member of staff." Professor Dumbledore had continued his announcements; oblivious to a few mutterings that had issued around the Great Hall. "Please give a hand to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; Professor Mizuki." The old wizard motioned towards a young man who wore a plain, navy blue bandanna with his shoulder length, white hair protruding from the bottom.

The young professor stood up and bowed his head with a gentle smile as the students and staff of Hogwarts applauded him respectfully.

"Uh oh, someone doesn't look happy." Bill muttered nodding towards Professor Snape; the pale, hooked nose potions master who had dark, greasy hair and was often seen wearing black robes and a stern demeanour.

Professor Snape threw the new Defence Against the a Dark Arts teacher a disgruntled, sideways glances before he slowly and reluctantly clapped his hands.

"What's his problem?" Naruto wrinkled his nose at the potions master.

"He was probably after the new guy's post." Kiba smirked mirthfully.

Professor Dumbledore waited patiently until Professor Mizuki had regained his seat and the students had settled down before he started to speak once more.

"Mr Filch has asked me to kindly remind you all that there is a list of banned items on his office door; which had now extended to Fanged Frisbees and Dr. Filibusters No Heat, Wet Start Fireworks after the incident on the second floor at the end of last term -"

Naruto shared a sheepish grin with Kiba and Bill.

"Oops!" The brunette whispered.

"It's a shame they got confiscated, really." Bill chuckled to himself.

"We were just lucky that it was Kakashi who confiscated them, y'know." Naruto added with an amused smirk at the man in question.

The blond let out a snort of laughter as he watched Professor McGonagall roll her eyes irritably at Kakashi and snatch a small orange tome - that the white haired man was secretly reading beneath the table - out of his hands as she passed the young teacher. Kakashi watched after the stern woman with a dejected look in his eye.

"- to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds for all students and that curfew is at eight o'clock for first to fourth year students and nine o'clock for fifth to seventh year students. Anyone caught out of bed out of hours will lose house points and receive detentions. And so, without further ado." Professor Dumbledore opened his arms widely and smiled brightly again. "Let the feast begin!"


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N: sorry I'm updating a little later than usual today, I've been pulled from pillar to post this week so I didn't get a chance to sit down and type up this chapter until today - to which I've only just finished typing because I had training at work._**

 ** _I'm going to apologise in advance for next week because I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to update. My shifts for this week and next week have been shuffled around so I'm not working night shifts and 14.5 hours shifts rather than my usual shifts - I don't think I'm going to have enough time to write the next chapter, let alone type it up. So again, I'm really sorry._**

 ** _Thank you to those who continue to show support via follows, favourite and reviews._**

 ** _I know it probably would've made more sense to make Mizuki the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher during Naruto's first year and Orochimaru the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher during Naruto's second year, but seeing as I've already split Naruto away from the Konoha 11 and Sasuke, I wanted him to first meet them and make friends with them before Naruto found out that he was the Nine Tails Jinchūriki and I didn't want to take that reveal to Naruto away from Mizuki - I want to explain more but I can't do so without giving away spoilers so this might have to be another case of baring with me for a while - sorry._**

 ** _Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot while Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios. Please support the official releases._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

 ** _~Fox_**

* * *

Naruto stretched and yawned widely before he sunk into a chair in between Kiba and Bill. The blond automatically poured himself a goblet of milk and helped himself to some toast while his two friends watched his sluggish movements with amused expressions.

"Nice to see that sleeping beauty has finally woken up." Bill commented with a smirk as he checked a small watch on his wrist. "And with only ten minutes before classes start, this must be a new record!"

"Shaddup." Naruto murmured groggily as he shoved another slice of toast into his mouth.

"Is he even awake?" Kiba asked with a snigger.

"Ah, Mr Uzumaki." Professor McGonagall approached the blond; she was holding a blank slip of parchment in one hand and her wand in the other. She surveyed the blond over the top of her spectacles with a disapproving frown playing on her lips. "How kind of you to join us, perhaps you would be so willing to dress yourself properly." She added; nodded towards the top button of Naruto's shirt - that was undone - the slack tie that was awkwardly draped around the blond's neck and his robes; which were hung off of his shoulders.

Naruto glanced down at his uniform before he threw the Head of Gryffindor House a sheepish grin. He quickly corrected his uniform under Professor McGonagall's stern gaze while many of the surrounding students watched the blond in amusement.

"That's much better." Professor McGonagall stated with a small smile as Naruto slipped his red and gold tie into a neat windsor knot. "Your timetable." The older witch tapped the slip of parchment in her hand with the tip of her wand and passed it to the blond.

Naruto took the timetable from Professor McGonagall and examined it curiously while the witch continued to address him.

"All second year students are encouraged to participate in after school clubs and activities." Professor McGonagall informed the blond. "Although it is not mandatory to do so, I think you will benefit from these. Professor Snape has agreed to start a potions club for those who wish to catch up on their class assignment and homework. Professor Mizuki is also looking towards starting a duelling club for anyone who is in their second year and above."

"Right." Naruto felt his face drop at the thought of spending more time than was necessary with the unpleasant potions master.

Professor McGonagall eyed the blond thoughtfully for a moment. "There will be a memo on the noticeboard in the Gryffindor Common Room with more clubs and details." The witch told Naruto in a softer tone before she then proceeded to walk through the Great Hall between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables towards the large wooden doors that led to the Entrance Hall.

"She never told us about the after school clubs!" Kiba burst in an offended tone as he watched the witch depart. "Talk about favouritism!"

"I wouldn't say that was favouritism." Naruto frowned at his new timetable. "It was more of a gentle nudge." Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the piece of parchment in his hands. "Looks like we're going to be the first class to have that new teacher." He grabbed a final piece of toast as he rose from his seat at the Gryffindor table and followed in Professor McGonagall's footsteps out of the Great Hall - with Kiba and Bill in tow.

* * *

Naruto's first day back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had proved to be uneventful.

Professor Mizuki and Professor McGonagall had spent their lessons with the Gryffindors telling the class what they would be learning over the course of the year, while Professor Flitwick - the small Charms professor and the Head of House for Ravenclaw - had inflicted a test upon his class to see who has retained their lessons from the previous year before setting the class to revise, practise and perform specific charms and spells in front of their peers; a task that none of Naruto's classmates seemed to enjoy.

Naruto had groaned inwardly and led his head drop onto his wooden desk with a loud thud during his fourth period as Professor Binns took his usual position in front of the class and read through his notes about the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards in his usual droning voice.

Naruto has been more than thankful to leave the ghost's classroom - having become bored of Professor Binns's monotonous voice and instead chose to spend the remainder of the lesson with his head resting on his arms where he happily fell asleep while Kiba put his feet up on the desk and swung lazily. Bill had opted to draw on a piece of parchment; he had later enchanted the doodles to roam around the page and spar against each other.

"I'm surprised they still let him teach, y'know." Naruto grumbled as he, Kiba and Bill departed from the History of Magic classroom. "It's not like we're learning anything from him. Do you think he's ever changed his teaching style?"

"Do you think he's even realised that he's dead?" Bill muttered under his breath.

"Doubt it." Naruto grimaced.

"Hey, don't knock it, his classes are basically a free period." Kiba chuckled gleefully. "I doubt he'll even notice if we didn't show up or even if we left halfway through one of his lessons. We can pretty much do what we want in his classes." Kiba grinned mischievously to himself as he stopped in his tracks to retrieve his timetable from his school bag. "Oh no." The brunette moaned as the smile slid off of his face.

"What?" Naruto and Bill turned in unison to face their brunette friend.

"Potions." Kiba announced with a grave expression. "Potions with the Slytherins."

"And Professor Snape." Naruto grimaced.

"He'll probably be looking for any excuse to take points from Gryffindor - as usual." Bill frowned as he continued down the corridor towards the Grand Staircase. "We should hurry if we don't want to give him the chance to."

The three boys rushed down the Grand Staircase, past the Great Hall and through a side door that led to the lower, underground levels of the school. They joined a queue outside the potions master's classroom; where the split between the Gryffindor and Slytherin students was as evident as usual. Naruto instantly noticed that there was a lot of muttering between the students and that a lone student was stood apart from the rest of their peers; upon further inspection he recognised the student to be Sasuke.

"Are they still banging on about him?" Kiba tutted under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

"What do you expect?" Bill whispered back as the drew closer to their classmates. "He's whole family was killed - to which there were reports that he's the only survivor and that he might have witnessed it - and now his brother is a wanted mass murderer" Bill shook his head at the brunette. "Of course people are going to talk about it."

"Well it's becoming annoying." Kiba retorted irritably. "He was the focus of attention last year -"

"Only with girls." Naruto pointed out; despite the fact that he inwardly agreed with his brunette friend.

Kiba continued his rant. "And now the whole school won't shut up about him because his brother went off and decided to do a number on the whole family -"

"I think there's a lot more to it than just that." Bill cut across Kiba.

But the brunette wasn't listening to Naruto and Bill counter arguments "He's just a stuck up, arrogant, bast-"

Bill cleared his throat pointedly and nodded towards the Slytherins - who hadn't even paid the Gryffindors any attention; they were instead enthralled in their own conversations. "I don't think they'll be too happy in you start insulting one of their own too loudly." The redhead warned Kiba. "Not only that, he's a friend of Naruto's - who is a friend of ours."

"W- wait a minute, who said anything about being friends?" Naruto started defensively; earning himself two perplexed stares from Kiba and Bill. "We're not exactly friends, I probably find him more annoying than Kiba does! And Sasuke can't stand me either, we spend almost the whole of last year arguing or… or…" The blond let his sentence trail off as the three Gryffindors glanced curiously as the raven haired Slytherin.

"He must be lonely though." Bill commented in a barely audible tone.

"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head at Bill.

"I mean -" Bill contemplated his words carefully for a moment before he spoke again. "To have his whole family taken away from him and knowing that it was his own brother who killed them. I can't imagine what it's like to lose all of that other than lonely." The redhead shrugged and continued to observe the Uchiha closely. "And the he comes back to school where everyone is talking behind his back in hushed voices. It's almost as though he has no one to turn to."

Naruto shuffled uncomfortably at Bill's words.

The Gryffindors and the Slytherins gave a collective startled jump as the classroom door swung open and Professor Snape entered the corridor. After a sweeping glance at the now silent students, the dark haired professor nodded towards the classroom door.

"Get in." He instructed in a dangerously low tone; he then stepped to one side and watched as the students obliged in complete silence.

"He's as joyful as ever." Kiba breathed as he, Naruto and Bill settled down around the same table at the back of the class.

The blond Gryffindor as Sasuke sat at his usual table on his own.

 _"Maybe I should sit with him."_ The thought crossed Naruto's mind as Bill's words continued to hang over the blond; causing Naruto to feel more guilty when the Uchiha was isolated by the rest of their peers once again. Naruto stood up - grabbing his school back at the same time - and turned back towards Kiba and Bill to tell them of his intentions.

"Mr Uzumaki, will you hurry up and take your seat." Professor Snape's voice cracked like a whip across the classroom; making the rest of the students turn in their seats to stare at the blond.

Naruto glanced about himself uncertainly before he hesitantly and awkwardly slid back into his original seat and quickly pushed his bag to the floor; wincing slightly as he heard the unmistakeable sound of broken glass.

"Seeing as it's your first day back and you've probably forgotten almost everything that I have taught you last year, we'll be revising the Antidote to Common Poisons." Professor Snape announced in a bored tone. "This is a beginner's potion that was covered during your first year, so I expect to see nothing that can't be graded with at least an Exceeds Expectations." The potions master's stare bore into each student before he pivoted on the spot and began to write the potion instructions on the blackboard behind him. "The Antidote to Common Poisons is a simple brew, so I expect to hear no talking." He added as he turned back to address the class once more; his eyes lingered on Tobio and Anthony as he spoke.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the class as the Gryffindors and the Slytherins waited for further instruction.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Professor Snape asked with annoyance in his tone. "Begin!"

Without needing to be told twice, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins swiftly retrieved their potion ingredients and cauldrons before they set about themselves to light a fire beneath the cauldrons and prepare their ingredients for their potions.

Soon the dingy classroom was full of vapours, an oddly damp smell and the sound of bubbling liquid; of which Naruto, Kiba and Bill used to their advantage to share whispered comments when Professor Snape wasn't nearby.

Compared to their usual potions lessons in their first year, Naruto felt as though the lesson going pretty well - this was until Professor Snape decided to take five house points from Gryffindor when he caught Kiba staring blankly as his cauldron during a forty minute simmer of the potion.

"How is that fair!" Kiba burst furiously at the potions master; jumping up from his seat as he did so. "Kaito, Ino, Samantha and Sasuke aren't doing anything either!" The brunette pointed outs he signalled to each Slytherin in turn. "I don't see you taking any points from Slytherin!"

Kiba recoiled slightly as Professor Snape leaned closer to him; the potions master's lips were pulled back into a sneer.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." He growled at Kiba. "Now regain your seat before you lose any more house points." Professor Snape threatened.

Kiba slowly did as he was told; glaring at Professor Snape all the while as the Slytherins sniggered at Kiba.

"Now do something useful with your time and copy the instructions off of the board." Professor Snape commanded in a harsh tone before he turned away from Kiba to focus on Ino Yamanaka's potion.

Kiba put his middle finger up at Professor Snape's back and pulled a face before turning back to face Naruto and Bill. "What an asshole." The brunette muttered in a voice that was louder than he had intended.

Naruto pursed his lips to contain his laughter while Bill's froze in horror as Professor Snape's figure loomed over their desk once more.

"What's your problem?" Kiba asked the redhead as he noticed Bill's panicked expression.

Bill hesitantly nodded towards the seething teacher behind Kiba; making the brunette turn in his seat curiously.

"Oh crap." Kiba mouthed to himself; he felt a sensation of dread drop to the pit of his stomach as his eyes met Professor Snape's.

"Get. Out." Professor Snape commanded Kiba through gritted teeth. "Now!" He roared when the brunette Gryffindor remained unmoved.

Without a single word or breaking eye contact with the potions master, the brunette grabbed his school bag and swiftly ducked out of the classroom.

"Is there something you find funny, Uzumaki?" Professor Snape shot at the blond; casting his gaze between Naruto and Bill. "Move over there." He instructed; pointing at Sasuke's desk.

"But my potion -" Naruto tried to argue.

"I suggest you move it very carefully and try not to spill a single drop." Professor Snape countered cruelly.

Under Professor Snape's penetrating gaze, the blond Gryffindor quickly retrieved his pair of dragon hide gloves from his bag, picked his cauldron up and set it down on Sasuke's desk; which had already been cleared for Naruto's arrival by the ebony haired boy.

"Try not to distract Mr Uchiha from his own potion." Professor Snape glowered at the blond. "I will deal with you two and Inuzuka after class." The potions master added; shooting his glare at Bill too.

Naruto hastily lit a fire beneath his cauldron again - hoping that the concoction's time away from the heat wouldn't spoil his potion - he then left the potion to simmer while he collected the rest of his ingredients and belongings from Bill's desk and took them to his new seat beside Sasuke. The blond shared a brief glance with the Slytherin, but quickly adverted his eyes; he was feeling too humiliated and frustrated to strike up a conversation with Sasuke - especially with the prospect of dealing with Professor Snape at the end of class already hanging over his head.

Naruto added a pinch of unicorn horn to his potion, stirred the brew clockwise twice and added two mistletoe berries before he stirred the concoction again; anti-clockwise this time. He hesitantly picked up his wand, took a deep breath and waved his wand at the potion; noticing that Sasuke had been watching him intently out of the corner of his eye before he followed in Naruto's lead.

The blond Gryffindor frowned at the potion in his cauldron; he had remembered that his concoction should have been a teal colour from his first year rather than the murky turquoise mixture that he had created. With a wary sigh, Naruto carefully ladled his potion into one of his glass vials, he labelled his vial with his name and place it on Professor Snape's desk alongside the rest of his peers' potions before he returned to his desk to tidy up. He caught a glimpse of the remaining potion that was sat in the bottom of Sasuke's cauldron - secretly, Naruto was relieved to see that Sasuke's potion wasn't the right colour either.

 _"Not so great at everything now, huh?"_ The blond snorted to himself; turning his nose up the at other boy's potion with a smirk. The smile quickly slid off of Naruto's face as he cast his eyes towards Sasuke's cauldron once more and was instead replaced with a frown. _"That's not like him."_ Naruto quickly jumped away from the Slytherin's cauldron as Sasuke returned to their desk to clean up too. _"He always makes perfect potions."_ The blond threw a sideways glance at Sasuke; taking in the other boy's appearance for the first time - there were dark circles beneath the young Uchiha's eyes, his brow was slightly furrowed in frustration and Naruto was fairly certain that the other boy seemed to be paler and slimmer than he had remembered.

"What are you staring at?" Sasuke quirked a quizzical eyebrow at the blond; ceasing in gathering his belongings to address the Gryffindor in a cool tone.

"I just -" Naruto's sentence was cut off by the sound of a bell that reverberated throughout the castle to announce the end of classes for the day.

"I want you all to produce an essay on the Wiggenweld potion; complete with the uses of the Wiggenweld potion, a list of ingredient needed to procure the potion and instructions to brew the Wiggenweld potion." Professor Snape announce to the class in a drawling tone as he watched the students make a note of their homework. "I suggest that you gather as much information as you can in your brewing instructions because you will be using your homework to procure your potions in place of a text book during your next lesson. Failure to complete the assignment will result in loss of house points and detention; if I catch any of you sharing note next lesson there will be severe consequences." The potions master gave the class one final, sweeping stare before he then sat down at his desk and began to closely inspect each vial of the Antidote to Common Poisons while the class packed the rest of their belongings away and filed out of the classroom.

With a final glance at Naruto, the Raven haired Slytherin swung his own bag over his shoulder and departed from the dingy potions classroom at top speed; forcing his classmates to part as he passed through them into the corridor beyond the threshold.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called after the other boy as he fumbled to grab his own bag and made to follow the Uchiha.

"If my memory serves me correctly, I told you that I would be speaking to you after class, Uzumaki." Professor Snape's icy voice reached Naruto's ears; forcing the young Gryffindor to stop in his tracks and stare between Professor Snape and the classroom door. "You too, Weasley." The potions master added as the redhead moved to Naruto's side. Professor Snape then rose from his seat behind his desk and proceeded to walk out of the classroom, into the corridor - leaving Naruto and Bill to share an apprehensive glance. The young teacher returned seconds later with a sheepish looking Kiba.

The potions master returned to his desk and waited for the three Gryffindors to move closer before he first pointed at Kiba.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor." He murmured in a low tone before then then pointed at Naruto and Bill in turn. "Ten points from Gryffindor - each."

Bill opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it again under the potion master's patronising glare.

"And a week of detentions for all of you." Professor Snape added with a malicious smirk. "It's not so funny now, is it?" Professor Snape paused for a few moments and watched the three boys expectantly; it almost seemed as though he was daring Naruto, Kiba and Bill to challenge him. When he didn't receive a reaction from the boys, Professor Snape instead turned his full attention onto Naruto. "Uzumaki, I told you not to distract Mr Uchiha during the rest of my lesson; ten more points from Gryffindor for disruptive behaviour."

"Wha-? I didn't!" Naruto burst defensively. "I didn't even talk to Sasuke until the end of class!" He added truthfully.

The potions master forcefully placed a vial of the Antidote to Common Poisons that was clearly labelled with Sasuke's name on the desk in front of the blond.

"T- that has nothing to do with me, y'know!" Naruto argued furiously; feeling his temper rising rapidly.

Professor Snape leaned across his desk towards the blond and spoke in a barely audible but intimidating tone. "Prove it."

Naruto merely glowered back into Professor Snape's cold eyes with a hardened expression upon his face; Naruto became disappointed and more frustrated when he was unable to think of anything to say in his own defence.

"I thought as much." Professor Snape leered. "Now get out of my sight."

"Come on." Bill muttered; giving Naruto's sleeve a small tug. "Just drop it."

Naruto readjusted his bag and clenched his fist to stop his hands from shaking as he allowed himself to be gradually steered out of the classroom by his friends.

The three Gryffindors walked the length of the corridor as fast as they could; each of them feeling just as eager as the other to put as much distance between themselves and Professor Snape as possible before they spoke again.

"I stand by what I said." Kiba murmured to his friends with a sincere expression. "He's an asshole."

"A week of detention and sixty five points from Gryffindor." Bill moaned as he, Naruto and Kiba waited for a staircase to move so they could continue their journey to the Gryffindor Common Room. "Sixty five points! All on the first day back. If anyone finds out about it -"

"If." Kiba pointed out in a sly tone. "No one needs to know it was us." The brunette shrugged. "Besides, sixty five points is a bit extreme, you don't really think Professor Snape will get away with taking that many points without another teacher stepping in, do you? I doubt he'll even take that many points anyway."

"He seemed pretty serious to me." Bill muttered more to himself than his carefree friend.

"Which reminds me," Kiba turned to address Naruto with a mischievous gleam in his eye, "well done for screwing up Sasuke's potion." A gleeful grin spread across the brunette's face. "That'll show everyone that he's not as perfect as they thought he was - it'll be a thorn in the Slytherins' side too."

"I wasn't lying, I really didn't touch his potion or distract him, y'know! Like I said, I didn't talk to him until the end of class." Naruto pouted irritably; he stormed up the staircase ahead of his friends as soon as the staircase shuddered to a halt.

* * *

Confused murmurs issued around Naruto, Kiba and Bill as they stood before the four house hourglasses in the Entrance Hall and watched as the red rubies retreated into the upper bulb of the Gryffindor hourglass; leaving the bottom bulb completely empty.

"He wasn't joking." Kiba stared at the hourglass in disbelief while Akamaru sniffed the bottom of the large hourglass curiously. "He really took house points away."

"What in your mind made you think he was joking?" Bill tutted impatiently at the brunette.

"I dunno… I mean, it's the first day of school…" Kiba tried to explain feebly.

"What happened to your hourglass?" A familiar voice join the conversation.

The three Gryffindors pivoted on the spot until they came face to face with a boy who was wearing Ravenclaw robes. The boy had short, brunette hair and wore sunglasses - despite the fact that he was standing in the torch-lit Entrance Hall. His hands were stuffed deep inside the pockets of his robes and - from what Naruto could see of his face - the boy had a stoic expression to match his bored tone.

Naruto surveyed the newcomer closely; he was sure that he had met the boy before - he could even recall this boy sitting beside Kiba during the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw during their first year - but the blond was unable to remember the other boy's name.

The Ravenclaw slowly walked past Naruto and his friends to examine the hourglass.

"I'm sure I saw some house points in here earlier… is it broken?" He asked curiously.

"No." Bill shot an accusing glare at Kiba. "Someone doesn't know when to keep his trap shut."

"Hey!" Kiba growled back at the redhead. "You guys lost points too!"

"You lost more than we did." Bill counter argued. "Besides, we might not have lost any points at all if you had kept quiet in the first place."

"He was being unfair!" Kiba pointed out defensively. "Anyway, it looks like we've got away with only losing twenty points in the end."

"That would be because there were only twenty house points to lose." Professor McGonagall's voice reached their ears. The witch approached the four boys; he eyes flashed dangerously as they fell upon the three Gryffindors and her lips were pursed - forming a line where the woman's mouth was. "The remaining forty five points will be deducted from Gryffindor when more points are added." She informed the boys in a sharp tone. "Well, I hope the three of you are pleased with yourselves."

Naruto, Kiba and Bill adverted their eyes from Professor McGonagall and shuffled on the spot awkwardly.

"Haven't you got anything to say or yourselves?" Professor McGonagall pressed in an expectant tone.

"He was being unfair!" Kiba burst hurriedly. "He took points from Gryffindor just because I was letting my potion simmer, but when I pointed out that the Slytherins were doing the same he took more points from me!"

"Even so, this doesn't warrant you to insult and swear at a teacher, Mr Inuzuka." Professor McGonagall's tone remained oddly calm, but Naruto could see that her nostrils were beginning to flare.

The blond tried to signal to Kiba to stop arguing without gaining Professor McGonagall's attention.

"Okay, I'll admit to that, but Naruto and Bill didn't do anything wrong." Kiba's voice reverberated throughout the Entrance Hall; causing nearby students to stop and watch the encounter between Kiba and the Head of Gryffindor house with interest. "He was just taking points from us because he felt like it."

"Professor Snape took house points from Gryffindor because three students were being disruptive to the class and continue to do so after having a fair warning." Professor McGonagall stated in a matter-of-factly tone. "If you feel that your punishment is unfair, you may come and speak to me in my office as soon as you have calmed down. In the meantime -" Professor McGonagall withdrew three slips of parchment and her wand from the pocket of her robes; she tapped each slip of parchment with the tip of her wand and handed them out to Naruto, Kiba and Bill. "You will each begin your week of detentions on Monday evening. If I remember correctly, you also received a week of detentions during your first week last year." She shot at Naruto as he took one of the slips of parchment. "I do hope that this will not become a habit, Mr Uzumaki." Without waiting for another word from Naruto, Kiba or Bill, the witch whirled around on the spot and furiously stormed away from the three Gryffindors while the other students in the Entrance Hall began to whisper and mutter to one another.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: I'm back. Kinda. Maybe. I'm probably lying. I'm sorry.**_

 _ **Anyway, it's been a bit of a hectic month (ahaha, my whole damn life is hectic) but I got a bit of annual leave coming up so if everyone leaves me alone… *wishful thinking***_

 _ **I kinda got carried away when it came to writing this chapter, I think I've rewritten it about 3 times before finally deciding to type it up (and I'm still not 100% happy with it) - while watching the English dub of Ghost Stories, great dub, bad idea to watch it back to back. I love that sarcastic cat.**_

 _ **And now I have to retype chapters fourteen through to nineteen of Rise of a Wizard because I lost all of it - my own fault - and for some reason FanFiction no longer lets you copy and paste anymore, I did not know this until this morning.**_

 _ **I have absolutely no idea when the next update is going to be, I'm usually half way though writing a chapter when I post one but I've been kinda slacking in that department this time - again, sorry - and I'm pretty sure I was gonna mention something else but my terrible memory strikes again.**_

 _ **Anyway, thank you to pinkdoughnuts (pfft, my iPad now has your username as an autocorrect and predictive text option) for leaving another lovely review last time I updated (many moons ago) and to all of those who have followed and/ or favourited my fanfiction.**_

 _ **I just remembered the thing! If you've seen the review from "u know who" on Rise of a Wizard, that person never read the fanfiction and was actually my best friend (who has no interest in reading and Naruto) as a joke. I'm telling you guys because I actually found it quite funny that he signed it as a guest review, told me to check my fanfiction and then told me I could delete it. I can't delete the review and he can't either because he signed it as a guest review. I'll get him back… somehow. I hope you enjoyed that little story anyway *shrugs***_

 _ **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot while Harry Potter belongs to JKRowling and Warner. Bros studios. Please support the official releases.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

Naruto dropped his bag off of his shoulder - lazily throwing the satchel down on the hearth rug - before he threw himself down into the armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room while he rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned; causing the few students who remained in the Common Room to give the blond a disgruntled glance for disturbing the peace and quiet.

Naruto merely shrugged off their scornful stares with a pout; thanks to the outburst between Kiba and Professor McGonagall in the Entrance Hall, rumours of the incident between Professor Snape and Naruto, Kiba and Bill had spread through the school within mere hours. Many of their fellow Gryffindors had begun to murmur insults or glare at Naruto, Kiba and Bill for losing house points on the first day of school - leaving Gryffindor to fall far behind the other house groups already.

The blond had found it easy to shrug off their comments; he had many experiences with far worse scenarios at Birkenhead Orphanage. Kiba and Bill, on the other hand, seemed to be having a harder time dealing with their peers. Kiba had taken to yelling back at anyone who so much as muttered in his direction - his boisterous temper and outbursts were made all the more comical by Akamaru; who would growl and yap loudly with his heckles raised if anyone took a step towards his master. Bill has tried to take a calmer approach on the matter and would often try to pass off any insults as a joke or merely smile and wave pleasantly when he caught anyone glaring at him - leaving Naruto and Kiba to gawk at the red headed friend in bemusement. Despite his behaviour, Naruto could see a hurt expression flash across the Weasley's face whenever a comment was shot at his friend.

With a huff, Naruto checked his watch and sank deeper into the worn armchair; he was relieved to finally be off of his aching feet - and even more so when he realised that he had finally come to an end of his week of detentions.

Naruto had spent every single evening over the course of the past week with Kakashi Hatake; one of the many teachers within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and by far one of Naruto's favourite teachers; despite the fact that the blond shared no classes with the young professor. Kakashi had the young Gryffindor completing various tasks for the other teachers of Hogwarts without the use of magic. Naruto didn't mind serving his detentions with the white haired professor; he didn't have to refer to the young man as 'Professor Hatake' due to Kakashi's relaxed nature - a trait that Kakashi didn't seem to share with many of the other teachers. Naruto had also decided that he would rather spend his detentions tending to the school's unicorn foals or stripping pink pods from Puffapod plants in the Herbology greenhouses rather than spending two or so hours a night sitting at a desk writing out the same sentence over and over again.

Due to Kakashi's more lenient attitude, Naruto often finished his detentions earlier than usual and was able to return to the Gryffindor Common Room it's before curfew began.

However, Bill and Kiba hadn't been as luck as Naruto had.

Bill had had to endure his detentions under the watchful glare of Argus Filch; the school's caretaker who seemed to have an even bigger disliking for children than Professor Snape did, and the caretaker's scrawny looking cat - Mrs Norris. Bill had spent his evenings polishing trophies in the castle's Trophy Room, cleaning bedpans in the Hospital Wing and maintaining the school's corridors while he was forced to listen to Mr Filch complain about the lack of corporal punishment within the school - Bill had even told Naruto and Kiba that he had caught the wheezing old caretaker oiling a set of chains when the redhead had reported to Mr Filch's office for detention during the week.

But - in Naruto's opinion - it was Kiba who had pulled the short straw. Their brunette friend had served his week of detentions with Professor Snape.

The potions master's attitude towards the three Gryffindors had become noticeably more unpleasant. He forced Naruto, Kiba and Bill to sit separately from each other at the beginning of each Potions lesson; he often made Bill sit at the same table as Ino Yamanaka and Samantha Masters while Naruto was made to sit with Kaito Saito and Kiba was placed at Sasuke's - much to the Uchiha's disapproval. Professor Snape would then continue to single Naruto, Kiba or Bill out in front of the class; he would either make a comment about shoddy potion making skills or fire a quick round of rather difficult questions and sneer at the boys when they were unable to answer. Naruto was beginning to hope that Professor Snape's attitude and new seating arrangements would soon be forgotten as time wore on.

Kiba had never elaborated on the nature of his detentions with the potions master, but he would return to the Gryffindor Common Room well after curfew with slime, mucus and other questionable substances stained onto his robes or beneath his fingernails; when probed by Naruto and Bill, the brunette would only mumble incoherently before swiftly collapsing into and falling asleep in one of the armchairs. Due to the late night detentions and his exhaustion, Kiba had quickly fallen behind in his other classes and homework.

Naruto had elected to remain silent on the nature of his detentions with Kakashi to avoid dampening Bill and Kiba's mood even more and disgruntled comments from his friends.

The blond grimaced at the thought of serving a detentions with either Mr Filch or Professor Snape - let alone a whole week of detentions - as he pulled his school bag closer towards to retrieve a fresh scroll of parchment along with his quill and a pot of ink to start a star map for his astronomy homework. He stared at the blank page with his quill poised and a thoughtful frown upon his face - if he was being honest with himself, he had no idea how to start a star map let alone plot the constellations and planets as well.

"I have until Wednesday to do this." Naruto reasoned with himself easily as he relaxed his poised position and grinned mischievously to himself. "I'll just copy Shikamaru's homework, Professor Yūhi can't tell me off for it anyway - everyone's homework is going to be the same anyway, we're look at the same sky." Naruto chuckled to himself gleefully as he instead focused his attention on to something that had been nagging at him in the back of his mind since he boarded the Hogwarts Express on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

The blond began to scrawl across the parchment in his messy handwriting; pausing every so often to scratch out a mistake or to spare a moment to contemplate what he should write next.

Naruto set his quill down as he picked up the parchment carefully - trying not to smudge the drying ink - and began to proof read his letter.

 _"Iruka,_

 _I hope you're okay. I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to write to you sooner, I've had a pretty busy first week of school - I can't say that it's been too great, especially potions lessons._

 _I don't know if you've been told yet, but I managed to land myself into a week of detentions already - but the detentions weren't too bad, I've been serving them doing jobs and stuff for other professors with Kakashi. You guys are friends, right?_

 _We've had a lot of comments thrown in our direction from our housemates because we lost so many house points, but it's nothing I'm not already used to._

 _I think Kiba and Bill have had a harder time than me. Bill had his detentions with Mr Filch and Kiba's been with Professor Snape - he hasn't been very friendly towards us since our first lesson._

 _We didn't really get a chance to say goodbye properly before I left for school, but you was going to ask me something before the train left, what was it?"_

Naruto frowned at the short letter; he wanted to write more, but he didn't really know what else to tell Iruka - he had even began to wonder whether or not he should have gone into more detail about the incident between Kiba and Professor Snape and his detentions or even mention Sasuke's behaviour and poor class performance in potions. He wanted to ask Iruka more about the Uchiha massacre in the Elemental Nations, but deemed it pointless as Iruka's job was to teach Apparation to young witches and wizards; the brunette probably wouldn't be able to pass on any more information than he had already read in Sakura's copy of the Daily Prophet during the journey to Hogwarts.

With a slight shrug and an inward sigh, Naruto scribbled a small note that read _'I hope to see you soon - Naruto'_ at the bottom of his letter before he sealed the note inside a parchment envelope and inscribed Iruka's name and address on the front.

The blond fiddled with the envelope in his hands as he cast his eyes towards the Common Room's window from his seat in the armchair - but found that he was unable to see anything beyond the darkness that pressed against the windowpanes - while Akamaru leapt into his lap and began to whine at the absence of his master.

Naruto automatically scratched behind the dog's ear to soothe the pup with one hand while he checked the time on a small wrist watch on his other arm and contemplated his chances of sneaking out to the Owlery after curfew without being caught by a teacher, the prefects or Mr Filch and Mrs Norris.

With a resigned sigh, the blond slipped the parchment envelope - along with his ink and quill - into his school bag before he settled back into the armchair more comfortably and petted the small white dog in his lap while he waited for Kiba and Bill to return from their detentions.

* * *

Naruto woke up early the following morning; despite his best efforts to go back to sleep, his restless mind wouldn't let him. He instead lay awake in his four post bed and stared at the ceiling until the first rays of sunlight began to filter through the dormitory; when he finally became bored of waiting in bed and decided to get up. The blond carefully and quietly moved around the dormitory; stopping in his footstep whenever he heard one of his dorm mates move to avoid waking the other boys by accident while he dressed himself.

The blond grabbed his wand from his bedside cabinet and his school bag before he left the dormitory and descended the staircase from the boys' dormitory to the Common Room below.

"Bushy Brows?" Naruto eyed the older boy curiously.

"Good morning, Naruto!" Lee called out to the blond cheerfully from his position on the hearth rug; Lee was kneeling down on the floor, where he was tying something to one of his legs. He was wearing what appeared to be a dark green spandex suit with bright orange leg warmers - much like the attire that Professor Maito wore.

"What're you doing?" Naruto asked as he approached the green clad teen.

"I'm getting ready for my morning exercises." Lee told Naruto in his usual enthusiastic tone.

Naruto's gaze shifted to an object that was set on the hearth rug beside Lee's feet. "Are those weights?" The blond stooped down to pick up the remaining weight on the floor; but quickly discovered that he was barely able to lift the object. "W-what the hell?"

Lee gave a small chuckle as the weight slipped out of Naruto's fingers and landed on the floor with a loud thud. "I use them in my training, they help improve my speed and strength." The older boy picked the remaining weight up off of the floor with ease; revealing a slight dent in the floor where Naruto had dropped the weight. "I'm going to start with a light warm up today; I'm going to walk down to the Boat House on my hands, train with Professor Maito and then I'm going to run five hundred laps around the Black Lake."

Naruto felt his jaw drop.

"T- that's a light warm up?" The blond gawked at the older boy in disbelief.

"I do this every morning as soon as the school curfew has been lifted." Lee informed the younger boy with a grin.

"Every morning?" Naruto was sure that his jaw would soon hit the floor. "I know you're energetic, but don't you think this is a little extreme, Busy Brows?" He added in a barely audible murmur.

"You can grow stronger if you train too, Naruto." Lee beamed encouragingly at the blond. "Would you like to join me?"

"Uh…" Naruto hesitated for a moment; staring between Lee and the weight in the older boy's hand. "Maybe another time, I've got a few things I've really gotta do today, y'know…" The blond excused himself with a small chuckle as he backed towards the portrait hole.

"Oh." A deflated expression fell over Lee's face before he quickly perked up to his normal self again. "I'll hold that to you, Naruto. Maybe we could spar someday."

"That sounds great, y'know." Naruto lied as he ruffled his hair with one hand and slowly opening the portrait hole with the other. "I'll see you later, Bushy Brows." The blond called back hurriedly before he quickly slipped out of the Gryffindor Common Room and into the corridor beyond; letting the portrait swing shut behind himself with the loud bang.

"Oi!" The Fat Lady - the portrait of a large woman wearing a pink dress who guarded the Gryffindor Tower - snapped angrily at Naruto. "Be more careful and watch who you're slamming next time, you nearly knocked me off of my hinges!"

Naruto tried his hardest not to roll his eyes and pout at the woman. He opened his mouth to apologise but found that he was unable to speak over the the woman.

"And do you have to be so loud this early in the morning?" She glowered at the young Gryffindor. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"You're being just as loud, y'know!" Naruto retorted; he was beginning to feel more frustrated at the woman.

"Well it wouldn't be an issue if you hadn't have slammed me, would it?"

"I didn't do it on purpose." Naruto knotted his arms over his chest as he turned his full body towards the portrait to address the Fat Lady properly.

"You could at least apologise!"

"I was going to, but you kept -"

"Will you two quieten down!" Another nearby portrait of a man wearing black robes interrupted the argument in an irked tone. "You'll wake the whole castle at this rate!"

"Don't start, I don't have time for this." Naruto murmured to himself as he pivoted on the spot and stalked away from the portrait.

"You don't have time for this?" The Fat Lady argued in a shrill tone while several other portraits began to groan and voice their discontent. "I don't have time for this either, you know?" She indicated towards herself. "Oi, are you listening to me?"

"Oh come on, you're a portrait." Naruto scoffed quietly to himself as he reached the end of the corridor. "All she does is sit around all day. Why do the portraits in this school argue back?" The blond pouted irritably as he began to jog down the Grand Staircase.

Naruto sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and ate his breakfast alone; watching as students began to slowly filter through the large oak doors before sundering towards their respective house tables while the enchanted ceiling gradually turned a brighter shade of blue in reflection of the sky beyond the castle walls.

As soon as he had finished his breakfast, the blond wandered back to the up to the third floor - where he entered the school grounds through the Clock Tower Courtyard and walked across the school grounds; towards the Owlery, at a leisurely pace. Pausing only to give Hagrid - the school's groundskeeper - a cheery wave as he saw the huge man enter the Forbidden Forest with his black boar hound; Fang.

Naruto spare a moment to watch silhouetted figures dive in and out of the school's Quidditch stadium before he crossed the threshold into the Owlery and carefully picked one of the school's owls to tie his letter for Iruka to.

A feeling of excitement and anticipation feel over the blond as he watched the owl fly from the Owlery window and fall out of sight over the horizon; he was already looking forward to hearing from Iruka again and felt a small smile on his lips at the thought of the brunette.

With his spirits high, Naruto returned to the castle and decided to spend his Saturday morning in the Library to complete the homework he had failed to do due to his detentions.

Upon entering the Library, the Naruto's eyes instantly fell upon two familiar faces. He made a beeline towards his usual table as a large grin began to spread across his face and he prepared himself to give a loud greeting to Sasuke and Sakura as he drew closer to the pair.

"- should tell Naruto at least." Sakura's voice reached the Gryffindor's ears. "He's involved too."

The blond ducked behind a bookshelf before either of his friends saw him and listened closely with bated breath to the conversation between Sasuke and Sakura.

"No." Sasuke replied in a blunt tone.

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion and tried to peer through the bookshelf without drawing Sasuke and Sakura's attention.

"But -"

"He doesn't need to know, besides, you only found out by accident yourself." Sasuke stated curtly.

"He's going to find out sooner or later, it'll be better if he heard it from you yourself than figure it out on his own." Sakura argued in an almost pleading tone. "I can't bear to watch you go through this on your own -"

"Then do yourself a favour and don't watch." Sasuke snapped harshly. "I didn't ask for your help."

Naruto heard a dull thud followed by the scratching sound of a quill against parchment as a stiff silence fell over the Slytherin and the Ravenclaw.

"If you keep acting like this and trying to hide it from him, he'll only get suspicious." Sakura muttered in a barely audible voice that made Naruto strain his ears just to hear what the young witch was saying.

"Which is why we're not going to talk about it again." Sasuke shot at the pink haired Ravenclaw dismissively.

"Do you really expect me to just -" Sakura began angrily.

"Ungh!" The Uchiha grunted in pain; making Naruto look for a gap in between the books at a quicker pace.

The blond finally located a spot where he could remain concealed behind the bookshelf while he could simultaneously catch a glimpse of Sasuke and Sakura.

The ebony haired Slytherin was slightly doubled over in his chair - clutching at his left shoulder while Sakura had swiftly moved to the Uchiha's side and tried to place a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Leave it!" Sasuke growled irritably at the girl as he batted her hand away.

"Sasuke, please." Sakura urged the Slytherin. "You're in a lot of pain, at least go to the Hospital Wing and -"

"And what? There's nothing they can do for it." Sasuke muttered. "I'll just have to adjust to it now."

"You leave me no choice, if you won't listen to reason I'm going to tell the teachers myself and then -"

"Keep your mouth shut!" Sasuke's voice grew darker. "It's my decision and it's none of your business."

"What the -?" Naruto breathed as he squinted; he tried to get a closer look at Sasuke's shoulder as the young Uchiha winced and gave another painful groan.

An unsettling silence fell between the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin once more as Sasuke returned to his work; filling the quietness with the same scratching sound as before while Sakura awkwardly slid into the seat beside the ebony haired boy and reluctantly followed his lead - letting her short, pink hair conceal her face from view as she bowed her head. Naruto had been fairly certain that he heard Sakura give a small sniffle as she turned her head away from Sasuke.

 _"What aren't they tell me now?"_ A scowl flitted across the Naruto's face as anger pang inside his mind.

The blond loitered behind the bookshelf for a little while longer; listening closely to see if Sasuke and Sakura would continue their discussion while he tried to figure out what secret the pair were trying to keep from him - but the more he thought about it, the more annoyed the Gryffindor became.

 _"Doesn't he trust me anymore?"_ Naruto glared at the raven haired figure through the bookshelf. _"After everything we went through with Orochimaru? He trusted me then, why is now any different? I thought we were -"_ Naruto's train of thought trailed away as his conversation with Kiba and Bill drifted to the surface of his consciousness.

 _"- he's a friend of Naruto's - who is a friend of ours."_

 _"W-wait a minute, who said anything about friends? We're not exactly friends, I probably find him more annoying than Kiba does!"_

Naruto shook his head in an attempt to clear the memory from his mind as a guilty weight fell to the pit of his stomach.

 _"Right, I forgot… but I thought Sakura was my friend at least."_ Naruto heaved a heavy sigh as he caught another glimpse of Sasuke and Sakura in between the books on the bookshelf. _"But now that I think about it, Sakura only spoke to me if she wanted to talk about Sasuke or if I was near Sasuke at the time. She hasn't even spoken to me since we were on the train. Does she even consider me as a friend?"_ Naruto cast his eyes away from the bookcase with a sullen expression as jealousy sparked; the blond felt a familiar sensation sweep through his body that stopped almost as suddenly as it had started - the sound of smashing glass and a small squeal from Sakura pulled the Gryffindor abruptly from his stupor.

With a glance to his left, Naruto noticed that a small glass panel in the window beside him had shattered. Naruto quickly readjusted his school bag and moved away from his hiding spot before he swiftly slunk out of the Library; he glanced back over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold to see Sakura curiously examining the broken window before her turquoise eyes flitted in his direction.

Naruto maintained his fast pace until he reached the Charms corridor - he looked back over his shoulder periodically to ensure that neither Sasuke nor Sakura had followed him.

The blond let his bag drop to the floor as he perched himself on the cold plinth base at a suit of armour's feet and put his face in his hands while he tried to process everything that had happened in the Library.

"The window." Naruto murmured to himself as he searched his pockets before he snatched his bag off of the floor again and pull his wand out of the bag. He turned the wand over in between his fingers and inspected the instrument closely. "How did I break the window? I didn't even have my wand in my hand."

"Are you okay?"

Naruto gave a startled jump and nearly dropped his wand.

"P- Professor Mizuki?" Naruto glanced up at the newcomer.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor apologised with a concerned expression.

"Er… yeah." Naruto stowed his wand away in his pocket and ruffled his hair nervously. "I just have a stomach ache, I'm just gonna go and see Madam Pomfrey -" The blond slowly rose to his feet and recollected his school bag.

"Well you know where to find me if you ever need to talk." Professor Mizuki gave Naruto an encouraging smile as he stretched his hand out to clasp the blond on the shoulder; but ceased in his movements before he touched Naruto and merely stared at the young Gryffindor while his smile faltered.

"H- hey, that's a creepy look." Naruto frowned at the young teacher. "Is everything alright?"

"Hm?" Professor Mizuki cocked his head at the blond before he regained his grin and finally clasped Naruto on the shoulder. "Of course."

Naruto watched in confusion Professor Mizuki continue down the corridor until he rounded the corner at the end of the corridor.

"That was weird."

* * *

 ** _A/N: Lee and the Fat Lady were not originally going to be in this chapter, they we're kinda added in on a spur of the moment because I got carried away. Sorry._**

 ** _I've also just learnt about exporting chapters on fanfiction… nobody say a word._**


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: This is only a quick update because it's 2:30am and I'm exhausted- I've just finished typing up this chapter because I wanted to make sure you guys got it on time.**_

 _ **So just to quickly explain, this chapter was originally going to be nearly twice the length that it is now, the only reason it's not as long as I intended is because I thought it might be a bit too much for one chapter so I've split it into two (I'll tweak the second half over the course of this week for a later update) which I've kinda annoyed myself about but I apparently never learn.**_

 _ **Anyway, Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Peirrot whereas Harry Potter belongs to JKRowling and Warner Bros. Studios - please support the official releases.**_

 _ **Thank to those of you who have followed and favourited my fanfictions and thank you again to pinkdoughnuts for another lovely review.**_

 _ **I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

Naruto huffed irritably as he passed through the Ground Floor corridor; his mind was still whirring from the conversation that he had overheard between Sasuke and Sakura in the Library - he had almost driven himself mad while he had tried to figure out was secret the pair were keeping from him. He had become even more annoyed at Sasuke and Sakura after the ebony haired Slytherin's vague behaviour continued throughout their Potions lessons in the following weeks - it had even seemed as though Sasuke was trying to ignore Naruto's existence as much as possible at times - whereas Sakura would give Naruto a small smile along with a cheery wave or a passing hello as she passed the blond in the corridors or remain oblivious to Naruto's presence whenever Sasuke was nearby.

The blond was even starting to feel irritable when thoughts of Iruka crossed his mind; the older wizard hadn't replied to the letter that Naruto had sent almost a month ago. The blond Gryffindor had made it part of his daily routine to visit the Owlery; he had hoped that the owl had delivered the replying letter from Iruka to the Owlery by mistake, but had soon discovered that the owl had returned to the school without so much as a note from Iruka.

To make matters worse for the young Gryffindor, Kiba had become completely preoccupied in the upcoming Quidditch try-outs; leaving Naruto and Bill with each other's company or - on the odd occasion - Naruto would be left by himself when Bill had agreed to help Kiba practise and Naruto didn't feel up to being around the enthusiastic brunette due to his broody mood.

The blond would instead take to the Gryffindor Common Room or find an empty classroom to practise his spell work without interruption. Naruto had often thought back to the conversation between Sasuke and Sakura in the Library and recalled that he had managed to perform magic without using his wand while he had remained hidden from the Ravenclaw and Slytherin. He had tried with all his might to cast spells without his wand but had remained unsuccessful - but since the incident in the Library, Naruto had felt a dense sensation around his navel that only seemed to amplify when he tried to cast spells.

"I don't get it, y'know." Naruto murmured to himself as he continued down the corridor. "I struggle to control my spells with a wand, but I'm able to cast them without one?" He glanced down at his hands in confusion. "I didn't even know that was possible. Maybe Sakura will kn-" Naruto cut himself off mid-sentence and pouted glumly to himself as he remembered his annoyance at the pink haired girl. "I forgot, she's more interested in Sasuke." Naruto pulled a face at the mention of the Uchiha's name.

A loud clatter and shuffling footsteps stirred the blond from his own musings - stopping in his tracks to listen to the muffled noises closely; Naruto heard a grumble issue from a room that was just a little further ahead from where he was standing.

"Hello?" He called out in an uncertain tone as he drew closer to the room.

A hunched figure stumbled out of the room; it was a man who had a pallid complexion along with pale eyes that seemed to scan the corridor in a hawk-like manner that quickly locked onto the blond Gryffindor. The man had grey, thinning hair that framed his sunken face. At his feet was a grey, skeletal cat - whose eyes were as equally sharp as her master's. Naruto recognised the pair to be Mr Filch and his cat; Mrs Norris.

"You!" Mr Filch pointed accusingly at Naruto; making the blond stop in his tracks once again and give the caretaker a taken aback stare. "What do you want?" Mr Filch asked in a snappish tone.

"Nothing." Naruto relaxed his tense stance. "I heard a noise and I was just wondering -"

"Get out of my way then!" Mr Filch commanded as he pulled the door of the room shut - he turned the key in the lock before pocketing it - and barged past Naruto; pushing the blond aside while Mrs Norris followed in his footsteps.

Naruto watched the caretaker hobble off down the corridor at a surprisingly fast pace with his cat until both were out of sight.

"Come on, my sweet." Mr Filch's gleeful voice reverberated off of the stone walls. "We'll have him out of this castle for good, I mean it this time. Even Professor Dumbledore can't ignore this!"

"What's Peeves done now?" Naruto wondered aloud as he cocked his head to one side and stare after Mr Filch and Mrs Norris curiously; before he then hardened his gaze into a glare and rubbed his chest in the place where Mr Filch had pushed him.

The blond pivoted on the spot and continued down the corridor.

A flickering light caught the young Gryffindor's eye. Naruto's footsteps faltered to a halt once more to address his curiosity. The blond came face to face with the door that Mr Filch had locked; in the small spaces between the frame and the worn, wooden door, Naruto could see a golden light that seemed to flicker as it illuminated the fame of the door.

With a quick glance at either end of the corridor to ensure that he was quite alone, Naruto moved closer to the door and ran his fingers over the frame of the door before lowering a hand to turn the doorknob - only to remember that the caretaker had locked the door when he took the key.

Naruto pulled his wand out of the pocket of his robes and pointed it carefully at the lock on the door.

"Alohamora." He chanted; he frowned to himself when the door remained locked. "Alohamora!" He tried again more forcefully; giving himself a satisfied grin and folding his arms across his chest proudly when the door gave a small click and swung open. "You'd think that he'd learn to put a spell or something on this door - especially in a school full of wizards, y'know." Naruto chuckled to himself.

The smile quickly slid off of the young Gryffindor's face as he swiftly realised that the golden light that had peaked his interest had been nothing more than an old, dying oil lamp that hung from the ceiling.

Naruto gave the oil lamp an irritable pout before he turned his attention to the rest of the room instead; the room was small and dingy, a desk occupied most of the space - leaving little room for movement. In one of the corners stood two rather large filing cabinets - one of which had a peeling label that read 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'. The blond wrinkled his nose in disgust as a fishy odour mingles with a dusty smell reached his nostrils. Naruto's eyes finally fell upon a set of well-oiled chains that were hung up on the wall.

"This must be Filch's office." Naruto concluded as he approached the chains for a closer look; he recalled that Bill had mentioned Mr Filch's chains when he told Naruto and Kiba about his detentions with the old caretaker.

His blue eyes flitted back towards the cabinet of confiscated items. He crossed the room again and pulled one of the cabinet's drawers open to peer inside.

He found books, unlabelled vials of questionable substances, Ever Bashing Boomerangs, a few of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks - Naruto had no doubt that these had been confiscated during the first few weeks of the school term - several dungbombs and -

"Parchment?" Naruto picked up a mass of blank, yellowing paper and regarded it with a disappointed glance. "I thought these were supposed to be dangerous." He added in a disgruntled murmur.

He went to place the folder parchment back inside the cabinet, but - after a moment's hesitation - pocketed the parchment instead. He closed the drawer and pivoted on the spot to leave Mr Filch's office when a large stack of paint tins caught the blond's attention.

"I'm sure he won't miss a few." Naruto sniggered to himself with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

* * *

Bill grimaced as he felt a wet sensation seep through his socks and settle into a puddle in the toe of his shoes with every step he took. His robes were drenched and clung to his body; making the young Weasley feel colder than he was. His ginger hair had turned a darker shade and was plastered to his pale face by the wind and the rain.

"Lighten up!" Kiba shouted over the howling wind as he pulled his own robes tightly around himself while he juggled a broomstick and a rather large reddish, brown ball.

"I'm cold and it's wet." Bill pointed out in a blunt tone while he watched Kiba's dog bound happily through muddy puddles. "Look at Akamaru!" Bill indicated towards the dirt smeared dog with a nod of his head. "He was white before we came out here!"

"He's enjoying himself, isn't he?" Kiba chuckled light-heartedly. "Besides, it's good to practise in all weathers; they won't stop matches because of weather like this." The brunette haired boy pushed open a set of large wooden doors and crossed the threshold into the Clock Tower with Bill and Akamaru. "It's nice to be able to get on a broom again, we don't get chances like this much in Konoha - not unless you're able to do it in secret, anyway. It used to drive Hana mad." Kiba laughed to himself. "I've gotta admit, you would make a pretty decent Keeper, Bill." He added as he flashed a grin at his red haired friend.

"Thanks." Bill ruffled his wet hair sheepishly. "I play with my brothers a lot at home. You should see my little brother; Charlie, he's pretty good on a broom - I reckon he'll make a fair Seeker."

"Have you thought abo- URGH! Akamaru!" Kiba held his hands up to shield his face as the small dog shook himself vigorously; spraying Kiba and Bill with more mud and water before yapping loudly and wagging his tail happily as he turned to face the two Gryffindors.

"Thanks Akamaru." Bill muttered to the dog in a sarcastic tone as he wiped a spot of mud off of his cheek. "Come on, let's get cleaned up before we catch a cold or get pneumonia." The redheaded boy added as he led Kiba and Akamaru further into the castle.

"Don't be such a wuss." Kiba rolled his eyes at the other Gryffindor's back as he followed in Bill's footsteps with Akamaru at his heels.

"What the hell?" Bill stopped in his tracks as he, Kiba and Akamaru entered the third floor corridor. His eyes widened as they fell upon brightly coloured stone walls.

Crude drawings were painted across the walls of the corridor - ranging from odd swirls and patterns to poorly drawn pictures of the Hogwarts teachers. The paint had been smeared over the walls carelessly; leaving large splotches on the floor and causing the wet paint to begin to run down the wall in some places. Even the suits of armour that lined the corridor had been painted over; many of the, had been given comical facial expressions or shared similar patterns that had been features on the stone walls.

"Nice to see they were imaginative in their endeavour." Bill shook his head dismissively. "Really original. It's probably Peeves." He added in an afterthought.

"Look at that!" Kiba roared with laughter as he wiped a tear away from his eye. "They drew Professor Snape!" He pointed at one of the painted figures that had an abnormally large nose, a distorted figure and stink lines surrounding it.

"How can you tell it's supposed to be Professor Snape?" Bill asked; cocking his head at the painting and squinting as though this would help him understand Kiba's perspective.

"Who else has a big nose like that?" Kiba sniggered.

"The paint is still wet." Bill told his friend as he approached the opposite wall and touched a spot of paint. "It must've been done recently; do you think the teachers know about it?"

"Who cares?" Kiba snorted as he examined a suit of armour closely. "I hope this paint is permanent."

"We should move, I don't want to get the blame for this." Bill tugged on the sleeve of Kiba robes and dragged the brunette down the corridor once more.

The two boys quickly found themselves caught in a crowd of students as they were forced to skid to a halt on the Grand Staircase.

"Now what's going on?" Kiba grumbled irritably as he swiftly stoop down and grabbed Akamaru with his free arm to prevent any harm coming to the dog. "Half the bloody school's on the stairs!" He added; noting students from Slytherin and Hufflepuff in the throng of students. "I could've sworn the Slytherin Common Room was in the Dungeons and the Hufflepuffs are somewhere on the ground floor, right? What are they all doing up here?" The brunette tilted his head to one side and wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"There's Shikamaru." Bill motioned towards a familiar boy who was wearing Ravenclaw robes. "It looks like he's with your friend too." The redhead added as his eyes fell upon the boy who was wearing tinted spectacles beside Shikamaru. "We can ask them."

Kiba gave Bill a small nod as he nudged his way through the crowd staircase until he and Bill reached the two Ravenclaws.

"Hey Shino, Shikamaru." Kiba called out to the pair.

"Kiba?" Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder with a surprised look on his face. "And Bill?"

"Well that answers that question." Shino told Shikamaru in his usual monotone voice.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked; ignoring the shocked stare from Shikamaru.

"You don't know?" Shikamaru cocked his head curiously at the two Gryffindors.

"Why don't you take a look?" Shino pointed a finger towards the many portraits that adorned the walls of the Grand Staircase.

"More paint?" Kiba stared at the portraits in astonishment as he watched the people in the portraits try and dodge the paint that ran down their backdrops or flicker in and out of their frames while shouting their complaints.

"So you do know something about it." Shikamaru turned his whole body until he was facing the two Gryffindors to address the pair properly.

"The whole of the third floor corridor is covered in paint too." Bill told Shikamaru and Shino. "But it was like that when we got there. The paint is still wet, so we guessed that it happened just a little while ago."

"It seems as though they are unaware." Shino spoke up again.

"Alright Bug Boy, out with it." Kiba snapped at Shino. "You're acting as though you know something that we don't, so spit it out!"

"Bug boy?" Bill shot a quizzical glance at Kiba.

"He's a member of the Aburame clan from Konoha; they specialise in insect based techniques." Shikamaru explained to Bill before Kiba could open his mouth. "To put it simply for you, Shino's body houses a large variety of insects that use him as both a nest and a source of chakra - in return the insects aid in combat and complete other tasks that Shino assigns to them. I'll spare you the details for now."

Bill felt a shiver run up his spine and his skin crawl as he regarded Shino with a squeamish expression.

"You have bugs inside of you?" Bill murmured in a barely audible tone. "Is that even healthy for you?"

"I bet you've already got some of those bugs lingering around the castle anyway." Kiba smirked smugly at the boy with tinted glasses. "So cough up, Shino."

"Very well." Shino replied in his vague voice and he held a hand out to allow a small, flying insect land in his palm. "My insects have told me that your friend; Naruto Uzumaki, has taken it upon himself to paint the Grand Staircase and - as you've already seen for yourself - the third floor corridor near the Clock Tower. Professor McGonagall was alerted to Naruto's actions and tried to deal with the situation. Naruto is now trying to evade Professor McGonagall on the seventh floor. We didn't think Naruto would try and pull of such a feat on his own, but your behaviour suggests that the two of you had no idea what Naruto was up to."

"Naruto." Bill slapped the palm of his hand onto his forehead in exasperation.

"That idiot!" Kiba muttered more to himself than the others. "Hold this." The brunette Gryffindor shoved the red ball and the broomstick into Shikamaru's hands before he then grabbed Bill's arm and began to push through the crowd of students once more; ignoring the indignant yells and irritable comments that he and Bill received from the other students.

"Why have they got to be so troublesome?" Shikamaru heaved a heavy sigh as he and Shino watched the two Gryffindors head towards the seventh floor.

"I can't believe that moron would do something so stupid!" Kiba growled angrily as he and Bill weaved in between the students. "Doesn't he think we've lost enough house points already?"

"Apparently not." Bill muttered wearily.

The two Gryffindors detached themselves from the throng of students on the Grand Staircase as they reached a door that led the pair to the seventh floor corridor; Kiba and Bill nearly tripped on open tins of paint that had been dropped and left strewn about the floor. The pair could hear grunts and the sound of clanging metal from somewhere in the corridor.

With a quick sideways glance at Kiba, Bill ran ahead of his brunette friend - watching the stone walls and floor for spots of paint.

"W- wait up!" Kiba lowered Akamaru to the floor before he followed in the redhead's footsteps.

"Naruto!" The two boys called out in unison as they rounded a corner in the corridor and their eyes fell upon their blond friend.

"What the -?" Kiba skidded to a halt and grabbed the back off Bill's robes to stop the redhead from advancing any further.

The pair watched with gaping mouths as Naruto struggled and writhed against a suit of armour's tight embrace in a futile attempt to escape.

"Let me go, dammit!" Naruto kicked his legs as the suit of armour slowly lifted him off of the ground. "Put me down!"

"That's enough, Mr Uzumaki." Professor McGonagall gave the blond a sharp glare over the top of her spectacles as she stepped around the suit of armour; pausing in her footsteps momentarily to survey the protesting blond.

The stern witch had managed to maintain her tidy appearance; even during her pursuit of Naruto, in fact it had almost seemed as though she had completed the task with minimal effort. Kiba and Bill were convinced that Professor McGonagall had managed to apprehend Naruto without pushing further than her brisk walk whereas Naruto's face was flushed and - in the few seconds that the blond relaxed his persistent attempts to escape - chest heaved as he gasped for breath.

Professor McGonagall shook her head and scowled at Naruto as she flicked her wand at the suit of armour - enchanting the metal body into motion. She strode past Kiba and Bill without a single word while she guided the suit of armour that carried Naruto towards the Grand Staircase.

Kiba and Bill watched in silence with mirrored expressions of shock as Professor McGonagall, Naruto and the armour disappeared around a corner.

* * *

Kiba and Bill waited with trepidation in the Gryffindor Common Room for Naruto's return.

The two boys perked up expectantly each time the portrait hole swung open; only to share deflated glances and return to watching the hours tick by on their watches when their blond friend didn't appear.

The pair eventually decided to pass time by warming up on the hearth rug beside the fireplace and play a game of wizard's chess - which only seemed to frustrate Kiba even more - while Akamaru curled up at Kiba's side.

The sunlight that streamed through the Gryffindor Tower windows was replaced by the dimly lit oil lamps that hung from the walls and the crackling fire in the grate as the evening drew in.

"You don't think he's been expelled, do you?" Kiba asked quietly; shifting his gaze from the chess board to Bill's face.

"I don't think so." Bill replied in an uncertain voice as he studied the pieces on the chess board that was in between himself and Kiba. "Queen to E-six." The redheaded Gryffindor commanded and watched as his Queen moved across the board and tackled Kiba's pawn before he addressed the brunette again. "I'm sure other students have got away with much worse, right?"

"How often do other students paint the school's walls?" Kiba enquired in a pointed tone. "Professor McGonagall must've caught him about six hours ago, how long can she yell at him for?"

The two boys gave a startled jump as the portrait hole opened again with a small click and a creak.

Naruto stepped into the Common Room; his robes were ruffled and still covered in blotches of coloured paint, he had untucked his shirt and undone his tie; leaving the tie to hang loosely around his neck - giving the blond an unkempt appearance. He tousled his golden locks sheepishly and flashed his two friends a grin.

"Maybe he didn't get expelled after all." Kiba mused to himself in a barely audible voice before speaking up to address the blond in an irked tone. "You moron, where had you been?"

"It's nearly eight o'clock." Bill frowned as he glanced down at the small watch on his wrist. "Don't tell me you've been in Professor McGonagall's office after all this time?"

"Not exactly." Naruto crossed the room and joined his friends on the hearth rug. "She took me to her office and she refused to let the suit of armour put me down until I stopped shouting at her. Then she told me off - I didn't think she was going to stop lecturing me, y'know." The blond added with a chuckle as he ruffled his hair again. "Then Professor McGonagall made me wash the paint off of the walls without magic - she told me that I couldn't leave until all the paint was gone."

"You managed to wash it all off already?" Bill asked with a surprised expression.

"Not yet, I've just finished the Grand Staircase - it's not easy when the portraits insult you for painting over them." Naruto told his redheaded friend. "I've got to clean the third floor corridor tomorrow. Which reminds me." Naruto turned to face Bill with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Do you still have that camera?"

"Don't even think about it." Bill muttered as he shook his head at Naruto.

Naruto pouted glumly at the Weasley. "Spoil sport."

"How many house points did you lose?" Kiba asked in a somewhat blunt tone.

"How many -" Naruto furrowed his brow as he tried to recall the conversation he had had with Professor McGonagall in the Deputy Headmistress' office. "Thirty, I think." He finally answered in a hesitant voice.

"Thirty?" Bill felt his jaw drop.

"I think." Naruto added hurriedly.

"Don't you think we've lost enough house points?" Kiba shot at the blond through gritted teeth. "We're in enough trouble with our housemates without you adding more on top."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto stared at Kiba with an expression that was mingled with confusion and annoyance.

"Exactly what I said. We're already being scorned for the thing with Professor Snape -"

"Which was your fault, y'know." Naruto pointed out angrily.

"I know it was, but it was also an accident, this was deliberate." Kiba countered as he pointed towards the portrait hole. The brunette's voice began to rise in volume. "I don't know if you've noticed, but it doesn't matter what one of us does, the other two will always get dragged into it too. We've had insults thrown at us, barely anyone from our own house group will talk to us because we lost so many house points, so why on earth would you pull a stunt like that?" Kiba got to his feet and took a step toward Naruto; subconsciously clenching his fists as he did so - he began to draw the attention the few Gryffindors that had remained in the corridor.

"Where's this come from all of a sudden?" Naruto slowly rose to his feet too and slowly squared up to the brunette; causing Akamaru to let out a small whine from the hearth rug. Naruto narrowed his eyes to glare at Kiba. "I get it now; you're just bent because you don't have the guts to do what I did."

"Are you kidding me?" Kiba gave the blond an affronted stare. "Stop acting so tough, you're not exactly anything to shout out about, are you? You've been here over a year now and you still can't master the most basic spells. I could probably wipe the floor with you with only one spell, you're just a -"

"Kiba." Bill shot at the brunette in a dangerously low tone.

Naruto and Kiba held their glare.

"Come on, Akamaru." Kiba called out to the white dog on the hearth rug before turning his back on both Naruto and Bill to ascend the stairs to the boys' dormitory with Akamaru at his heels.

* * *

 ** _A/N: I just want to assure you guys (just in case so SPOILERS… kinda) the Kiba and Naruto thing will not be permanent, please bare with._**


	9. Chapter 9

**_A/N: Okay, I am a terrible terrible person and I can only apologise for how long it took me to update. I don't even have a feasible other than new coursework, work load, Christmas and New Year... my other excuse is Final Fantasy XV... cried three times and still refuse to play the last chapter (see, told you it wasn't feasible). Seriously, even I'm disappointed in myself. So yeah... I'm really sorry._**

 ** _A big thank you to pinkdoughnuts and j3didestroyer for leaving lovely reviews and a big thank you to those of you who have followed, favourited or even read my fanfiction; I really appreciate the support you give me and I'm still so sorry for leaving it so long without an update._**

 ** _Anyway, I'm going to apologise in advance for any typos and errors in this chapter and apologise again because I'm not 100% with this chapter either (shocker, I know)_**

 ** _I was going to mention something else but it's completely gone from my mind and I have to get up in a few hours so I'm not going to ponder over it._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy~!_**

 ** _~Fox_**

* * *

Naruto shuffled along the wooden stands of the Quidditch Stadium with his redheaded friend following closely behind him.

"Looks like we made it in time!" Bill chimed happily.

The redhead's footsteps faltered to a halt as he glanced back over his shoulder to watch as Akamaru clambered along behind the pair - the small dog had been forced to pace himself at a trot in his struggle to keep up with the two Gryffindors. Bill shook his head and smirked as he scooped the small dog up in his arms and continued to follow behind his blond friend.

"Looks like we're here too early." Naruto muttered to himself in a somewhat irked tone as his eyes swept over the vacant stands.

"That okay, it'll be easier for us to find the best seats." Bill pointed out in the same chipper tone as before. "Right Akamaru?"

The small white dog gave a cheerful yap from the ginger haired boy's arms.

"See?" Bill flashed a triumphant grin at Naruto; as though the dog's response was enough to justify his reasoning. "Not here!" Bill added quickly; tugging on the sleeve of Naruto's orange jacket as the blond began to sit on one of the wooden beams.

"Huh?" Naruto's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "But we always sit here during matches -"

"I want to sit somewhere else today." Bill told the blond as he lead Naruto further along the stands. "It's not like a match so they probably won't even use the whole pitch and the rest of the school won't be here to watch the tryouts anyway, so we might as well make use of the extra room while we can."

Naruto stared after the young Weasley with a bewildered expression.

"If you say so." Naruto murmured more to himself as he slowly began to follow behind Bill.

Bill glanced over his shoulder and frowned; he could tell from the blond's tone that Naruto's attention was beginning to waver and his expression was quickly switching from confusion back to the passive look he had adorned during the past few weeks.

After a few more minutes of walking around the Quidditch stands, the redhead abruptly stopped in his tracks; accidentally causing Naruto to collide with him.

"This is perfect!" Bill announced in an oddly pleased manner as he threw himself down onto a wooden beam and patted the space beside him with an expectant gleam in his eyes to encourage Naruto to follow his lead.

Naruto glanced about himself for a moment - he noted that Bill had chosen to sit closer to a set of the three goal hoops instead of their usual position near the middle of the stands.

"Is something wrong?" Bill asked; his smile began to falter slightly.

"No." Naruto replied slowly as he carefully perched himself on the wooden beam beside Bill. "Nothing's wrong."

The red haired boy set Akamaru down in between himself and Naruto as he cast his gaze around the stadium; since the two boys had arrived, odd clusters of Gryffindor students had formed around the stands - Bill had no doubt that they had come to support and encourage their friends during the tryouts - the young Weasley was even certain that he had seen a few students from other house groups among the Gryffindors; but otherwise the Quidditch tryouts appeared to be a fairly quiet affair.

Bill let his eyes flit back towards Naruto to see that the blond was now sporting a begrudging pout while he slowly scratched Akamaru behind the ear.

Bill gave an inward sigh and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Naruto's mood had been gloomy since he and Kiba had argued in the Common Room a few weeks ago - the blond had refused to even look at Kiba, let alone talk to the other boy; in scenarios where the pair were forced to talk to each other, their tones would remain frosty and any conversation - no matter how brief - would quickly escalate into an argument.

Bill had also noticed that Naruto seemed to have taken Kiba's words to heart and spent more time than before hiding in the Library and practising spells under his breath during mealtimes and other lessons while he pretended to be listening to his teachers or making class notes.

Kiba was no better; Bill often found himself giving the brunette a reproachful glare and a warning after Kiba threw a criticism or a remark in Naruto's direction during their classes. The brunette had even tried to distance himself from Naruto between classes, at mealtimes and after hours in the Common Room; Kiba would instead spend his time with Tobio and Anthony or wait until Naruto had left Bill's side before rejoining the redhead.

If Bill was being honest with himself, he was fed up with playing the role of the referee in Naruto and Kiba's arguments which was why he had made an effort to drag Naruto down to the Quidditch Stadium in a last ditch attempt to brighten the blond's mood - but he had been unsuccessful so far; Naruto had barely managed to grunt and hum in response to Bill's attempts to start a conversation. and continued to ignore Kiba's presence during breakfast that morning - even when everyone else around the blond began to wish good luck to the brunette haired boy. Despite this, Bill still hadn't given up - no matter what the outcome of the Quidditch tryouts would be, Bill was secretly hoping that Naruto would be there to congratulate or console their friend and put an end to their sulky feud.

Bill was pulled away from his own musings as a hushed silence fell over the stands; his attention was drawn towards the Quidditch Pitch instead. The redhead allowed a small smirk to play on his lips as he saw Naruto perk up slightly out of the corner of his eye.

A group of at least twenty four red clad figures marched onto the pitch. They were followed by three other people who were wearing uniforms that were almost identical to the Quidditch robes that had been worn by Hana Inuzuka during the previous year. In the midst of the sea of red was a familiar brunette with a pallid expression adorning his face.

"There he is!" Bill nudged Naruto excitedly and pointed towards Kiba.

"Mm." Naruto hummed uninterestedly.

Bill felt himself deflate as his face deadpanned while he stared at Naruto. _"You're hard work, Naruto."_

One of the uniformed figures withdrew a wand from the sleeve of her robes and pointed the tip of the wand towards her own throat; seconds later the girl's voice could be heard in reverberating tones around the Quidditch Stadium.

"Good morning. My name is Stephanie Chapman and I am Gryffindor's new Quidditch Captain. Beside me are Jack Foster and Mira Yamada." The girl announced as she motioned towards the boy and the girl who stood nearby. "I don't want to waste any time, so if you're here to try for the Keeper position then I'm sorry, but the position's already taken." Stephanie added as she jerked a thumb at Mira.

"Stephanie, I told you not to be so blunt!" Mira reprimanded the Quidditch Captain hastily as a blush crept onto her face. "I'm so sorry." She called out as five students instantly detached themselves from the group and headed towards the changing rooms while they grumbled irritably in low voices.

"She's straight to the point." A familiar voice issued from somewhere above Naruto and Bill; making the two boys give a small. startled jump.

"Shikamaru?" Naruto blinked at the newcomer before turning his attention towards the Ravenclaw's two companions. "Chōji and- uh..." The blond ruffled his hair sheepishly and tried to trace back through his memories as the newcomer turned to face Naruto expectantly. "You're -um -"

"You've forgotten me already, haven't you Naruto?" The Ravenclaw who wore shaded glasses shot at the blond Gryffindor.

"Of course I haven't." Naruto tried to reassure the other boy in a hurried voice. "You're Kiba's friend -"

"Shino." Bill murmured under his breath so only Naruto could hear him.

" -Shino!" Naruto finally added; making a mental note to thank Bill later. "What are you guys doing here?" He quickly changed the conversation to avoid upsetting Shino anymore than he already had.

"Bill told us that Kiba was trying out for Chaser today, so we came to cheer him on too." Chōji explained as he, Shikamaru and Shino settled themselves down on either side of Naruto and Bill. "His sister was the Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor last year, wasn't she?"

"She was a Chaser too." Shino confirmed; he pushed his tinted spectacles further up the bridge of his nose.

"He's probably already on the shortlist for the team." Chōji nodded knowingly to himself.

"I don't think Stephanie Chapman's interested in who's related to who." Shikamaru mused aloud.

"That's that settled then." Came Stephanie's voice again. "We'll start with the tryouts for a new Chaser; those of you wishing to try for a Chaser position, take a broom from the school's supply store - the rest of you are to wait on the side lines." The Gryffindor captain then aimed the tip of her wand at her throat once more until her booming voice could no longer be heard throughout the stadium.

"Hold on, some of us have our own brooms." A fifth year boy piped up.

"Oh yeah." Stephanie paused to stare at the boy's broomstick thoughtfully before she idly waved her hand over her shoulder. "Leave it over there and take a broom from the school's supply store." She repeated in a more dismissive tone.

Stephanie's words were met with confused murmurs.

"We're not using our own brooms?" The fifth year stared at Stephanie with an astonished expression.

"I want to make this as fair as possible." Stephanie announced in a louder voice to ensure that the other candidates could hear her too; her voice silenced the muttering once more. "Therefore everyone will be riding a broomstick of the same standards and a broomstick that I know hasn't been tampered with or jinxed to perform better." She added; eyeing the broomstick in the boy's hands again.

"But -"

"If you're serious about trying out for the team, you would be willing to comply with these terms at the very least. Even Yamada, Foster and myself will be using the school broomsticks." She added as though this settled the matter at hand.

"Is it just me or does she seem a bit too strict?" Naruto frowned and cocked his head to one side as he regarded the Gryffindor captain with a calculating stare.

"It looks like she's trying to segregate those who have raw talent and skill from those who have bought their way into the sport." Shikamaru explained to the blond. "It may seem like a strict move, but it's a smart one." The ebony haired boy then turned his attention to his Hufflepuff friend. "So, there is not shortlist this time. Kiba's going to have to work hard if he wants Stephanie to take him seriously."

The five boys watched as one student after another mounted a broomstick and tried to throw the Quaffle - a rather large, reddish brown coloured ball - past Mira Yamada into one of the three goal hoops while Stephanie Chapman watched like a hawk from her own broomstick close by and Jack Foster aimed Bludgers - rather clumsily - in the direction of the participants.

"That was a good try." Mira called out encouragingly as she swerved to a stop in front of the goal hoops and watched as a third year girl descended to the ground.

"Next; Inuzuka." Stephanie announced as she folded up a scrape piece of parchment and tucked it into her glove for safekeeping.

"Here comes Kiba." Bill leant forwards in his seat excitedly as their brunette haired friend took a deep breath before he mounted one of the worn broomsticks and kicked off from the ground.

"He doesn't look so good." Chōji commented with a frown as he noticed Kiba's apprehensive expression.

"He's just nervous." Bill reassured his friends.

"Ready when you are!" Stephanie called out to Kiba - who had to recompose himself before giving the Quidditch Captain a curt nod.

The brunette tore down the Quidditch on his broomstick, caught the Quaffle that was thrown to him as he passed Stephanie and dodged away from Jack's interception before he finally launched the Quaffle towards the goal hoops that were being heavily guarded by Mira. Kiba fell back away from Mira and the goalposts as soon as the Quaffle left his hands to watch in anticipation as the large ball brushed past Mira's fingertips and through the hoop.

"Yes!" Bill jumped to his feet and clapped loudly while Akamaru barked in unison. "Well done, Kiba!"

Bill's voice carried around the stadium - attracting the attention of the few other occupants - while Naruto and Shikamaru awkwardly adverted their eyes from the redhead and Shino remained as stoic as ever. Chōji, on the other hand, joined Bill in cheering Kiba on.

"You guys could be more supportive." Bill rolled his eyes at Naruto, Shikamaru and Shino.

"He's better than I thought he would be." Shino muttered in a seemingly displeased tone.

"Another wager?" Naruto asked the bespectacled Ravenclaw.

"On whether he'll make the team or not." Shino confirmed.

"Good job, Inuzuka!" Stephanie clapped an encouraging hand on Kiba's shoulder while Jack retrieved the Quaffle and Mira circled around the goalposts protectively. "Hana would be proud of her little brother. Reckon you can do it again?"

"Y- yeah." Kiba nodded with more confidence than he currently felt he had. "Of course I can."

"He might actually make the team." Shikamaru muttered more to himself than to the others with a smirk as he watched Kiba easily dodge around Jack's attempt to intercept again. "He only needs to make three goals to have a chance, right?"

The brunette was forced to swerve around a Bludger that was sent in his direction by Stephanie before he was able to progress towards the goalpost.

"Yeah." Naruto replied to Shikamaru's question absently while his eyes closely followed the brunette's movements. The blond felt himself tense as a Bludger passed close to Kiba's ear; making the brunette momentarily lose his concentration and nearly lose the Quaffle to Stephanie.

A sigh of relief escaped from Naruto's lips as he relaxed his position and watched the Quaffle escape Mira's grasp once more to pass through one of the three hoops. He caught sight of Bill watching him closely out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" Naruto blinked at the redhead in confusion; a pang of annoyance sprung in the back of Naruto's mind.

 _"How long has he been staring at me for?"_

"Nothing." Bill shook his head and forced himself to watch Kiba again. "It's... just nice to see you're rooting for Kiba."

"Rooting for -?" Naruto gave Bill an incredulous glance. "I'm not rooting for him, I'm only here because you wanted me to come, y'know." He added in a stiff tone as he knotted his limbs and pouted in a sulky manner.

"Whatever you say." Bill chuckled to himself. "You're still friends, you know that, right?"

Naruto remained silent; unable to think of a retort. He instead focused his attention upon watching Kiba make his next and final goal.

* * *

Bill and Chōji jumped to their feet again and pumped their fists in the air while cheering loudly as Kiba descended to the ground and dismounted from the broomstick with a relieved look upon his face.

"It's finally over." Shikamaru yawned as he stretched his arms above his head and lay down to watch the clouds drifting above.

"But they've still got two Beaters and a Seeker to find." Naruto gave Shikamaru a puzzled frown as he counted the remaining positions off on his fingers.

"I don't particularly care about them." Shikamaru mumbled. "I don't particularly care for Quidditch if I'm being honest, I find the whole sport too troublesome."

They watched patiently while Kiba returned to the side lines with the other participants of the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts as the next set person was called for by Stephanie.

"Trying for the position of Seeker; Prittlewood." Stephanie announced as she withdrew a navy coloured, drawstring bag from the pocket of her Quidditch robes. She then drifted towards Prittlewood and began to talk to the other girl in low tones while showing her a small, white ball from the drawstring bag.

"Is that -?" Naruto squinted at the ball in Stephanie's hand. "A golf ball? I thought Seekers were supposed to catch a little golden ball."

"They do." Chōji nodded at the blond. "But they use those white balls until the new Seeker is confident enough to use a proper Snitch; the won't lose it that way."

"Not only that, but Snitches have flesh memories and not everyone has the right equipment during tryouts, so I guess they use those as a substitute just to make it fair for everyone." Bill elaborated.

* * *

Naruto's attention began to waver once more as the fourth applicant for the position of Seeker mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. The blond sighed heavily as Mira threw one of the golf balls as hard as she could towards the opposite end of the pitch and the boy on the broomstick rushed after it as fast as he could - Naruto had to suppress a snigger as the golf ball fell passed the boy's outstretched palm and plummeted towards the ground.

"Don't worry, you did great!" Mira chirped happily as the boy gave the golf ball a crestfallen glance. "Ready to try again."

"It can't be easy knowing that that Chapman girl's watching your every move." Bill mused aloud.

"I just wish that Yamada wasn't so optimistic." Shikamaru grumbled irritably. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Then why don't you go to bed at a reasonable time." Naruto muttered.

"He does." Shino replied in his usual monotonous voice.

"HEY! LOOK OUT!" Jack's voice came from the Quidditch Pitch; forcing the five friends to cast their eyes towards him curiously.

A golf ball hurtled in their direction at an alarmingly fast pace; aimed squarely at Bill's face. Jack and Mira raced along far behind the ball with panicked looks upon their faces while Stephanie stared with an expression of mingled shock and horror.

The redhead closed his eyes tight and flinched violently; but the impact that he had anticipated never came.

He slowly opened one of his eyes to see a hand in front of his face; he followed the orange sleeve of the arm attached to the hand to see that Naruto had awkwardly thrown himself off of his seat and balanced his body weight onto the wooden beam that he had been sitting on and the wooden beam of the seats in front of himself to catch the golf ball before it hit his redheaded friend.

Naruto was staring at the ball in his tightly clasped fist with disbelief as he tried to register what he had done.

Mira and Jack had pulled back on their broomsticks to force themselves to stop in midair.

Naruto clambered to straighten himself up and soon found that Stephanie was flying towards him on her own broomstick with an amazed expression.

The blond Gryffindor shuffled on the spot uncomfortably as Stephanie carefully dismounted her broom and placed her footing carefully on the stands near Naruto and his friends.

Without knowing what to say to the older girl, Naruto unfurled his hand with an apologetic look on his face to let the Quidditch Captain take the golf ball from the palm of his hand. He watched as Stephanie delicately picked the golf ball up and carefully examined it as she rolled the white ball between her fingers.

"What's your name?" Stephanie finally asked in a rather abrupt tone; adverting her gaze from the golf ball in her hand to Naruto's face.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki." Stephanie repeated thoughtfully as her eyes dropped back down towards the golf ball. "Have you played Quidditch before, Uzumaki?"

Naruto shook his head slowly. "No."

"Rode a broom?"

"Yeah, every week during my first year in flying lessons with -" Naruto let his sentence falter; he wasn't sure if the older girl was still listening to him.

Stephanie nodded to herself as she let her fingers close to form a fist around the golf ball and surveyed the younger boy closely.

"This ought to be interesting." She smiled to herself before pivoting on the spot to face to two figures of Jack and Mira. "Foster, I need another broom."

"Another -?" Naruto cocked his head to one side; he could hear Bill and Chōji having a whispered conversation behind his back but tried to ignore it.

"I want to test something." Stephanie told the blond. "Do you think you can catch one of these while you're on a broom?" She shot at Naruto as she held up the small, white ball with a determined gleam in her eyes.

"I -" Naruto stared at the golf ball uncertainly.

"Go with Foster and get yourself a broom, I'll see you on the pitch in five minutes." The older girl instructed gleefully as she remounted her own broomstick and kicked off into the sky once more. "Sorry about that, where were we?" She called out to the boy who had been trying to catch the golf balls minutes earlier.

"W- wait a minute!" Naruto tried to tried to call after Stephanie but found that his shout fell on deaf ears. He turned to give Bill a helpless frown instead.

"I don't think you've got much of a choice." Bill sniggered with an oddly triumphant look on his face as he rose to his feet and nudged Naruto further along the stands. "Good luck! We'll be rooting for you!"

Shikamaru sat up and yawned again. He waited until he caught sight of Naruto gingerly stepping onto the Quidditch Pitch below before he cleared his throat and addressed the remaining Gryffindor.

"You look pleased with yourself." Shikamaru commented in a low voice so that only the redhead could hear him; he threw a sideways glance in Bill's direction as he spoke.

"Hm?" The redhead hummed in response.

"Admittedly, this is quite a convenient hiccup in your plan."

"Plan?" Bill slowly glanced around at Shikamaru. "What plan?"

"Oh come on." Shikamaru gave a short laugh. "You made sure Naruto came down to the Quidditch Pitch with you and purposely sat closer to the goalposts just to make sure that Kiba sees you both in the stands."

"Isn't that what normal friends do?" Bill arched an eyebrow at the Ravenclaw.

"You watched Naruto more than you watched Kiba during the Chaser tryouts." Shikamaru pointed out. "That would've forced Kiba's attention to drift to Naruto too, you're trying to make those two friends again, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"It won't work."

Bill shot a quizzical glance at Shikamaru. "Sorry?"

"It won't work. Guys like Naruto and Kiba are too stubborn for something as mediocre as this." Shikamaru explained with a smirked as he watched Naruto ascend into the air on a broomstick. "You thought that Kiba would see Naruto's presence as a sign of support and assumed that the latter would at least offer some words of encouragement after seeing Kiba play in the tryouts, but now Naruto's ended up trying out for the team too."

"They'll be forced to spend more time together and get along if they're on the same team." Bill pointed out proudly.

"That might not be the case." Shikamaru countered.

The Gryffindor's eyes narrowed to give the Ravenclaw a calculating stare. "What do you mean?"

"They're now set up for the perfect rivalry." Shikamaru elaborated in a bored tone. "Didn't you stop and think about what would happen if one of them made the Quidditch Team and the other didn't? It might not be such a big deal to Naruto if he doesn't make the team, but how would Kiba feel if he didn't and Naruto did?"

Bill's gaze adverted towards the brunette waiting in the side lines before flicking towards the blond on the broomstick who was racing towards a soaring golf ball.

* * *

Stephanie Chapman descended to the ground; where she met Jack Foster and Mira Yamada in the middle of the pitch. After a quick, huddled discussion; Stephanie retrieved her wand from the sleeve of her robes once more and pointed it towards her throat - she cast the same spell that she had used before to ensure that she could be heard over the excited mutterings.

"We'll be deciding on who will be joining the team during the week and posting a list on the Gryffindor Common Room notice board. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to find myself, Jack or Mira in the meantime." Stephanie announced while Jack nodded in agreement and Mira beamed encouragingly. "I would just like to take moment to thank everyone who came to the tryouts today and to those who came to support their friends."

A polite scatter of applause issued from both the stands and from those who had been waiting in the side lines.

Both the crowd in the side lines and the groups in the stadium's stands quickly began to disperse as friends found each other and talked animatedly amongst themselves while they headed back towards the castle.

Naruto cast his eyes towards Kiba; but found that the other boy had been standing with his back towards Naruto. He took a few steps towards Kiba but soon felt someone tug on the sleeve of his jacket. He pivoted on the spot to see Mira holding onto the orange fabric.

"Um..."

"You okay?" Naruto asked the older girl.

"Could you tell your friend that I'm really sorry?" Mira asked the blond in a hurried tone. "I didn't mean to throw the ball at him."

"I'm sure he's fine." Naruto reassured the older girl as he cast an eye towards Bill; he could see the redhead in question talking animatedly to Shikamaru, Chōji and Shino as he scooped Akamaru up in his arms again and the group began to descend from the stands. "He seems quite happy about something, anyway." Naruto shrugged wearily before focusing his attention on the spot where he had last seen Kiba only to find that the brunette had already disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: sorry for the really long wait for the update guys, I'm still really sorry to say that updates will just come as and when I can find time to write and post chapters.**_

 _ **I'd like to say a big, big thank you to those of you who have followed, favourited or just read my fanfiction(s) and a huge thank you to pinkdoughtnuts and UnbiasedBias for the lovely reviews and to otakuficwriter for helping me out with some typos and a good laugh - I would never have spotted them if it wasn't for you - I really appreciate your support guys :)**_

 _ **I don't own any of the scenes, themes or characters from Naruto or Harry Potter; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and J K Rowling respectively - please support the official releases.**_

 _ **Again, super sorry for the late update guys.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

Bill's gaze shifted between Naruto; who was sat at one end of the worn sofa with his nose buried inside his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, to Kiba - who was positioned at the other end of the sofa; where he stared absentmindedly at the ceiling while he fiddled with his quill.

Bill's plan to nudge the pair towards a reconciliation during the Gryffindor Quidditch Tryouts had remained futile - in fact, the tension between the redhead's two friends only seemed to thicken.

News of Naruto's actions during the Quidditch Tryouts spread around the castle fast; causing the eye of interest within the school fell upon Naruto once more. Some students had congratulated the blond on his performance or questioned Naruto on the events of the tryouts; they often caught Naruto off guard in the castle's corridors or in the Library after classes - this often upset Madam Pince and caused the stern librarian to linger around the blond Gryffindor whenever he entered the Library. Other students, however, scoffed at the mere mention of Naruto's name and questioned Stephanie Chapman's reasoning for even considering Naruto for the team - these comments were usually reserved for whenever the brash Quidditch Captain or her remaining two teammates happened to be nearby. Either way, Kiba's annoyance towards Naruto only seemed to deepen as the attention grew.

Bill had tried to pin the new sense of animosity between Naruto and Kiba down to the fact that both boys were feeling apprehensive about who had and who had not made the Quidditch Team but the redhead instead found himself growing more and more concerned that Naruto and Kiba's conflict would worsen as rumours spread around the school.

 _"They're now set up for the perfect rivalry. Didn't you stop and think about what would happen if one of them made the Quidditch Team and the other didn't? It might not be a big deal to Naruto if he doesn't make the team, but how would Kiba if he didn't and Naruto did?"_ Shikamaru's voice surfaced in the redhead's mind.

Bill shook his head to clear his mind before letting his gaze drop back down to his Herbology essay - he had barely noticed that he had left his quill poised over his parchment for almost twenty minutes; a drop of ink had fallen from the end of quill and created a large spot of ink to spread across his last sentence.

A sudden movement from a table near the staircase that led towards the dormitories caught Bill's eye; he watched as Stephanie Chapman rose to her feet and shared a final nod of agreement with Jack Foster and Mira Yamada before she pivoted on the spot and approached the Common Room noticeboard; where she pinned up a piece of parchment.

Bill wasn't the only person who had been watching Stephanie's movements; as soon as the Quidditch Captain stepped away from the noticeboard and rejoined her friends at the small table, many of their fellow Gryffindors quickly huddled around the noticeboard to read the parchment while murmuring to each other curiously.

"Hey," Bill called out to Naruto and Kiba, "looks like the new Quidditch Team has been decided."

The redhead's words stirred both boys from their pondering with a slight jolt.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked blankly at Bill.

"Really?" Kiba was quicker to register what the Weasley has said.

Naruto and Kiba paused to stare at the group of Gryffindors standing around the noticeboard for a fraction of a second before they shared a brief glance, jumped to their feet and joined their peers around the Common Room noticeboard together.

Bill smirked to himself as he watched his two friends stand side by side without so much as a glare or a harsh comment in the other's direction for the first time in a long time.

"So, guys like Naruto and Kiba don't work like that, huh Shikamaru?" Bill muttered to himself smugly and settled back more comfortably in his armchair.

The crowd around the board quickly thinned and dispersed - the other students chatted animatedly as they returned to their individual tasks - finally leaving room for Naruto and Kiba to move closer and read the notice for themselves.

 _Gryffindor Quidditch Team_

 _Captain - Stephanie Chapman_

 _Chaser - Stephanie Chapman_

 _Chaser - Jack Foster_

 _Chaser - James Marshall_

 _Beater - Kai Chambers_

 _Beater - Alana Sturluson_

 _Keeper - Mira Yamada_

 _Seeker - Naruto Uzumaki_

Naruto felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach as his eyes fell upon his own name - he read the list times after convincing himself that he had misread Stephanie's handwriting and then again two more times in search of Kiba's name.

When he was sure that his eyes weren't mistaken, Naruto threw a hesitant sideways glance at Kiba to see a mixture of disappointment and irritation flit across the brunette's face.

"Kiba -" Naruto began despite that fact that he didn't even know what he was going to say.

"Forget it." Kiba snapped frostily. He shoved past the blond through the portrait hole without meeting Naruto's gaze; leaving the blond to stare after him.

The smile instantly slid off of Bill's face as the scene played out in front of him; he silently urged Naruto to chase after the brunette, but watched as the blond slowly backed away from the portrait hole and returned to his position on the worn sofa.

* * *

"Well done, Naruto!"

"Uh… thanks." Naruto gave small, shaky smile at the fourth year Gryffindor girl as she ran past him in the Herbology corridor. "Whoever you are." He muttered to himself in an undertone as he quickly dropped his cheerful façade as he watched the girl fall out of sight as he rounded a corner with a bemused expression.

He checked a small watch in his wrist as he passed through a set of large wooden doors; into the fresh air of the castle grounds.

The blond crossed the school's lawns until he found the tall, glass greenhouses where a line of second year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students were waiting for their lesson to start.

"There he is!" Anthony called out proudly as he ran to Naruto's side and draped an arm around the blond's shoulders. "How's our new Seeker?"

Naruto ducked out of Anthony's grip as Tobio, Chōji, Haley, Michelle and Hinata joined his side too.

"When's your first Quidditch match?" Haley asked.

"Quidditch match?" Naruto frowned. "We haven't even started practice yet, y'know!"

"What are the others like?" Tobio enquired with an interested look upon his face.

"I honestly don't know," the blond tried to detach himself from the small group that had formed around him, "I can't really remember much from the tryouts -"

"Have you been given your Quidditch robes yet?" Anthony rejoined the conversation. "Will you show them to us?"

Hinata was stood to one side; where she had been fidgeting with her fingers while a deep blush crept onto her face. "W- well done, Nar-" The ebony haired girl tried to speak, but allowed herself to be cut off with a quiet squeak; her voice had fallen on deaf ears as her peers pressed closer to the blond Gryffindor with more questions and offers of good luck wishes and congratulations.

Naruto instead focused his attention towards the remaining students; he craned his neck to see that Bill was watching Naruto with a small smile while Kiba - who was standing close to the redhead - had turned his back towards the blond and the group of surrounding peers.

"Have you got a broomstick yet?" Came Haley's excitable voice again - her question stirred Naruto's attention away from Kiba and Bill. "What broom have you got?"

Naruto felt his stomach drop as realisation fell upon him. "A broomstick? Um… I haven't actually got a broom -"

"What's going on out here? What are you all doing over there?" Professor Sprout appeared at the entrance of the Herbology Greenhouse. "Come on, you lot!" She beckoned towards the scattered students and watched as they filed past her into the greenhouse.

Naruto felt relief coarse through every pore in his body as the throng of peers finally moved away from him as they continued to talk amongst themselves while they passed Professor Sprout. He heaved a heavy sigh before he swiftly joined the end of the queue of classmates.

Once he was inside the greenhouse, the blond quickly moved to Kiba and Bill's side - offering the Weasley a small, sheepish grin in greeting.

"You were nearly late." Bill murmured in a barely audible tone; forcing Naruto to lean a little closer to the redhead to hear what Bill was saying. "Where were you?"

Naruto threw an apprehensive glance at Kiba before he answered Bill's enquiry; only to find that the brunette had continued to ignore him.

Naruto rolled his eyes irritably at the brunette before turning his attention back towards Bill. "Stephanie wanted to talk to me - we start Quidditch Practice on Friday."

The red headed boy nodded slowly with a thoughtful expression before he shifted his posture for a more comfortable position and turning in his seat to listen to Professor Sprout while Naruto followed his lead.

"- found in Abyssinia; the Shrivelfig can survive in almost any environment due to its strong roots." The plump Herbology professor explained as she placed the tall plant in question in front of herself for the class to see before she then indicated towards purple bulbous features that adorned the plant. "The flower of the Shrivelfig grows inside the fruit itself. Can anyone tell me what the uses of the Shrivelfig are?" The plump witch stared at her students expectantly.

Most of the students ruffled their hair nervously, shuffled on the spot awkwardly or advert their eyes from Professor Spout with the hopes that the Herbology professor wouldn't call upon them for the answer to her question.

"No one?" Professor Sprout frowned.

Naruto glanced about himself uncertainly before he raised his hand.

Professor Sprout beamed and nodded encouragingly at the blond Gryffindor.

"The leaves can be used in medicine and the liquid inside the fruit is used in potions; like the Shrinking Solution." Naruto's voice trailed off into a mumble and he felt the heat rise to his face as his classmates eyes fell on him while he spoke.

"Excellent, Mr Uzumaki! Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout nodded to the blond as she pulled the Shrivelfig plant in front of her a little closer and readied herself by placing her shears close to hand. "During the winter, the Shrivelfig will begin to shed its leaves in the autumn and completely leafless during the winter, but we've still got fruits left on our Shrivelfigs." She indicated towards one of the purple bulbs once again. "So we'll be harvesting the fruits from the Shrivelfigs during today's lesson, like so." The Herbology professor carefully grasped the stalk of fruit and gave it a light tug to detach the fruit from the branch of the plant. "Any withered stalks should be removed with your shears." Professor Sprout instructed - she demonstrated by cutting away a dry, shrivelled stem from the plant. "Now, I want you to split up into groups of three per Shrivelfig."

The class shuffled into mix matched groups - Naruto instantly attached himself to Kiba and Bill to avoid any more unwanted questions concerning the Quidditch team.

Despite the fact that Naruto and Kiba were still not speaking to each other, Naruto was secretly glad that Kiba had now stopped going out of his way to avoid being in the blond's presence.

Naruto, Kiba and Bill set to work around the same potted plant; any conversation between the three boys would only occur between Naruto and Bill or Kiba and Bill - this was the arrangement that the three friends had silently agreed to in order to avoid unnecessary comments and further arguments. Although the there was little to no communication between Naruto and Kiba, the two boys managed to work together effectively and without incident.

Naruto's eyes flitted towards Kiba; the brunette's expression remained stoic whenever he was around the blond. Naruto had often found himself wondering what was going through Kiba's mind at these times and whether the brunette was blaming him for the results of the Quidditch Tryouts - admittedly, the blond felt guilty for making the team without much knowledge on the sport or so much as a single practice session whereas Kiba had worked hard almost every evening prior to the tryouts.

Naruto felt something wet drip from his fingertips down towards the palm and back of his hand; glancing down he saw that he had accidentally gripped the fruit of the Shrivelfig too hard and had caused the bulbous fruit to burst - leaving purple juice to seep from the remnants of the fruit over the blond's hand.

"Watch it, Uzumaki!" Professor Sprout's voice startled the blond. "Be more careful with them."

"Right, sorry professor." Naruto gave an apologetic grin under the plump witch's reproachful stare before he shuffled off to wash the liquid from the Shrivelfig from his hands.

"- Uchiha guy is really good."

Naruto stopped in his tracks at the sound of Jonathan Paye's voice. The blond threw a sideways glance at the Hufflepuff boy to see that he was working on a Shrivelfig plant with two other students; who he recognised to be Elizabeth Thompson and Paige Smitt. The three students were working on a tall plant that was situated close to another group that was composed of Anthony Pettiford, Tobio Fujiwara and Christopher Walker.

Naruto stooped down and pretended to tie the laces of his shoes carefully with the fingers that weren't covered in purple liquid while he listened closely to the conversation between his peers.

"He's got really fast reflexes and his spell work is amazing!" Jonathan continued.

"It's true," Elizabeth nodded earnestly at her friends, "his spells are really strong and he always seems to cool and collect when he's duelling."

"You're only saying that because you like him." Tobio gave a snort of laughter. "He's not really all that great, you know."

"I- I am not!" Elizabeth burst defensively as her cheeks began to tint with a red flush; earning herself a stern glare from Professor Sprout. She lowered her voice before she spoke again; feeling more wary of the Herbology teacher's presence. "I'm only saying because I saw him duel against a fourth year."

"A fourth year?" Haley stared at the Hufflepuff girl in disbelief. "Surely Sasuke was no match for a fourth year, he wouldn't know enough offensive spells!"

"He masters spells really fast too," Christopher joined in, "I heard that he managed to master the Disarming Charm within a few hours - I'm telling you, that's guy's a genius."

Naruto felt a scowl play on his lips as he tried to suppress a frustrated growl.

Worried that he might have accidentally drawn the attention of his nearby classmates, the blond furiously undone his shoelace; purposely causing a knot in the laces and set about himself to untangle and retying the laces to give himself an excuse to stay where he was.

"I'm not sure he's doing it all by himself though." Tobio frowned at his friends - all of whom seemed to be completely oblivious to Naruto's presence. "He's really close to that Haruno girl in Ravenclaw - and she's one of the top three in all of our classes - I bet she helps him out a lot."

"Now that you mention it, I have seen them hanging around together a lot lately." Elizabeth murmured more to herself than the others.

"Probably because you're one of those Sasuke stalkers, you'd give that Ino Yamamaka a run for her money." Tobio muttered under his breath; earning himself an elbow in the ribs and a glare from Elizabeth.

"He also spends a lot of time talking to that white haired teacher - what's his name again?" Anthony cast his eyes towards the ceiling of the greenhouse with a thoughtful look upon his face.

"You mean Professor Hatake, right?" Haley answered Anthony's question while the Gryffindor boy nodded. "But we don't have any lessons with him." She added with a frown.

"He helps Professor Mizuki with the duelling club." Paige explained. "But I never thought that Sasuke would accept help from others; he always seemed more like the lone wolf type of guy."

"He does seem quite reclusive, but I heard that he was the student who was close to Professor Orochimaru last year." Anthony lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper - making Naruto strain his ears to hear what was being said. "No one really knows what Professor Orochimaru was plotting except the teachers involved, Professor Dumbledore and Aurors - for Aurors to get involved, it must've been something bad."

"What do you mean by teachers involved?" Elizabeth shot at Anthony.

"They say that before Professor Orochimaru disappeared he encountered two Hogwarts teachers; Professor McGonagall and Professor Hatake." Anthony elaborated. "Professor Hatake was the one to pursue Professor Orochimaru, but it should've been impossible for Professor Orochimaru to even leave the school grounds due to the castle's protective wards. Considering how close Uchiha was to Professor Orochimaru last year, the fact that Professor Orochimaru was able to escape under Professor Hatake's pursuit and now Uchiha is close to Professor Hatake too. The night that Professor Orochimaru fled from the castle he attacked three students and Sasuke was one of them - why would Professor Orochimaru suddenly turn on one of the students he was closest too? I think that this was a ruse to maintain Uchiha's innocence. Another one of the students who was attacked by Professor Orochimaru was Sakura Haruno - the girl who Uchiha is now close to. I believe that Professor Hatake and Uchiha may have aided in Professor Orochimaru's escape and remain in contact with him and that Sakura Haruno is probably an accomplice too - they're probably giving him information that they know about the investigation."

"But wasn't Naruto Uzumaki the third student?" Christopher asked curiously.

"I think so, he was close to Uchiha and Sakura Haruno too and after the incident with Professor Orochimaru he was in the Hospital Wing." Tobio nodded slowly as he traced through his memories. "Kiba and Bill told us that he had been ill at the time, remember?" He added to Anthony; who nodded in agreement.

"That's where things get a bit complicated, I'm not sure where Naruto fits in to all of this." Anthony frowned. "He says that he wasn't involved in the Professor Orochimaru incident and no one really knows anything about this illness he had - not even his closest friends. Either he's covering up for Uchiha and Haruno or they've put him under a Memory Charm."

Tobio, Christopher and Haley scoffed.

"It makes sense," Anthony muttered defensively, "Uchiha's good at mastering spells and they have a teacher on their side, it's plausible!"

Naruto felt something in his mind snap as one of the greenhouse panels shattered; causing everyone nearby to jump or while a few of the girls gave a startled squeal while others gasped in surprise.

"No to worry, not to worry!" Professor Sprout ushered the students away from the shattered greenhouse panel as she withdrew her wand. "Step away before you hurt yourselves." The Herbology teacher then aimed her wand at the broken glass and muttered, "reparo." She watched with a satisfied smile as the glass instantly sprung back into place and mended without so much as a scratch in the glass. "Right, back to work now. Accidents happen but you lot ought to be more careful."

Naruto ignored his surroundings; he was instead fighting down the urge to say something to the gossiping group. The blond instead turned his back on the group while they were busy inspecting the damage to the glass panel and continued his way towards a sink to wash his hands.

Naruto mind churned over everything that he had overheard.

 _"I never even knew that Kakashi was the one who chased after Orochimaru that day."_ Naruto pondered in the matter as he lathered his hands with soap and rinsed them under the running tap. _"He wouldn't deliberately let Orochimaru get away, would he?"_ The blond glanced over his shoulder towards the group of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students to see that they had continued their discussion and felt a frown cross his face. _"But they're right, Orochimaru shouldn't have been able to leave the school grounds - maybe he was helped."_ Naruto but his lip uncertainly. _"But Sasuke grew suspicious of Orochimaru, he asked me for my help - Orochimaru even attacked him."_ More thoughts whirled around Naruto's head; making the matter seem all the more confusing to the blond. _"I found him unconscious in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and then… then Orochimaru was there and… and… I can't remember anything else! Was it all really played out to make Kakashi and Sasuke look innocent? Then why were me and Sakura involved?"_ Panic began to coarse through Naruto. _"D- did they use a Memory Charm on Sakura too? How much does she know?"_

"Urgh! None of this makes sense!" Naruto groaned to himself aloud as he pulled on his own hair in frustration.

"Uzumaki, how long are you going to spend washing your hands?" Professor Sprout tutted at the blond from across the greenhouse. "If you scrub your hands anymore, you'll have no hands left, come on!"

"Right." Naruto nodded at the witch as he quickly turned the faucet off and wiped his hands on his trousers to dry them, before pivoting on the spot and returning to his plant.

"I'll have to ask someone about this - someone who's not involved, someone smart." Naruto gave himself another determined nod as a familiar face came to mind.

* * *

"Absolutely ridiculous!" Shikamaru stared at the golden haired Gryffindor with a disbelieving expression.

"I had a feeling you get say that, y'know." Naruto murmured more to himself than the ebony haired Ravenclaw.

"Where the hell did you get an idea like that from?"

"Well… I, uh…" Naruto ruffled his hair nervously, "might have overheard someone saying it in Herbology this morning." He finally admitted.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sighed impatiently as he leaned against the walls of the Owlery and stared out over the school's grounds.

Naruto had departed from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom as soon as the bell rang throughout the castle to signal the end of the day's lessons. With a quick goodbye to Bill and promises to meet his friend in the Gryffindor Common Room before dinner, Naruto left the redheaded Weasley in Kiba's company and raced down to the Herbology Greenhouses once more to seek out the company of Shikamaru Nara. The blond had felt a pang of irritability when he saw Sasuke and Sakura leaving the greenhouses together as he drew closer, but he quickly shook the pair from his mind as soon as he saw Shikamaru and managed to drag the ebony haired Ravenclaw across the grounds - where he told Shikamaru almost everything that he had overheard in Herbology that morning about Orochimaru, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura.

"Didn't you think that the Aurors would've investigated the possibility that Sasuke and Kakashi were working with Orochimaru?" Shikamaru pointed out. "If it's that easy for a group of second years students to come up with that theory, then there's a likely chance that a tea, of highly skilled and experienced adults have already thought of and acted upon the same theories."

"I guess."

Naruto couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved at Shikamaru's words despite the doubt that still lingered in his mind; he hadn't told Shikamaru about the discussion of his own involvement and was weighing in his mind whether or not he should mention it.

Shikamaru studied Naruto's face carefully, "I can see why you'd believe something like that, but if there had been any evidence that proved they aided Orochimaru's escape they wouldn't still be in the castle - I don't think Professor Dumbledore would allow it - besides you were there, you were one of the students involved in the whole situation; surely you know more of what happened than anyone else."

"I know." Naruto sighed as he mulled over his thoughts; still remained undecided as to wether or not he should talk to the Ravenclaw about the Memory Charm.

"So why are you listening to rumours?"

Naruto subconsciously balled his hands into fists and cast his eyes downwards as he spoke. "They're hiding something from me, I know they are. It feels like they don't acknowledge my existence anymore, they only talk to each other now too."

"Who?"

"Sasuke and Sakura."

"Have you tried talking to them about it?"

Naruto gave a short snort but otherwise remained silence.

"Thought not." Shikamaru heaved another sigh. "I think you're reading into things too much; you know how cruel rumours can be - they're all too troublesome if you ask me, that's why I don't pay them any attention."

Naruto gave a small laugh as he nodded slowly. "I wish everyone else around here was like you."

"As for Sasuke and Sakura, that's something you've got to work out on your own - the same goes for Kiba."

"Kiba?" Naruto gave the other boy a confused stare. "I didn't say anything about Kiba."

"No, but I think your argument with Kiba stems from your frustration with Sasuke and Sakura." The Ravenclaw explained.

Naruto gave Shikamaru a thoughtful stare for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"Do you know when and where the Duelling Club meet?"

"The Duelling Club? Why? Are you thinking of joining?"

Naruto gave a half-hearted shrug. "Couldn't hurt to check it out."


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: So as usual I'm terrible at updating (sorry, so sorry) and I'm really sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm working on this fanfiction as and when I can at the moment.**_

 _ **Thank you so much to those of you who have favourited or followed my fanfiction. An even bigger thank you to pinkdoughtnuts for the review and the help you gave me in messages too and to otakuficwriter for helping me out with typos - I really appreciate your help guys :)**_

 _ **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto while Harry Potter belongs to JKRowling; please support the official releases.**_

 _ **Enjoy~!**_

 _ **~Fox**_

* * *

Naruto descended from the Marble Staircase into the Entrance Hall; he could hear a low

hum of multiple conversations issuing from the Great Hall. The blond glanced down at a slip of parchment that had been torn off of a longer roll of parchment and had Shikamaru's neat handwriting scrawled across it.

 _Duelling Club - Great Hall_

 _Every Tuesday at 18:45pm_

Naruto peered around the threshold of the Great Hall to see that the four long house tables that usually adorned the vast hall had been removed and was instead replaced with a large number of students from every year group.

The students had formed three large circular clusters; in the centre of each group were a pair of students in the midst of a duel.

The young Gryffindor balled up the piece of parchment in his hand and shoved it into the pocket of his orange trousers as he approached the closest throng of students and watched in awe as a pair of wands twirled relentlessly through the air; issuing a constant string of charms and jinxes - most of which were quickly deflected or dodged by the opponent. The owners of the wands were two sixth year boys - one of which was wearing a Hufflepuff uniform while the other bore the emerald colours of Slytherin. Their movements were fluid-like as though they had practised their routine many times while their spells were executed almost perfectly and without fault - if Naruto hadn't have known otherwise, he would've easily thought that these boys were skilled and revered duellists. The blond soon found himself wonder how both boys were able to maintain their incredible speed and precision without tiring themselves out.

Naruto lingered with the group for a few more minutes and clapped along with his peers as the duel ended with a simple Knock-Back Jinx from the Hufflepuff boy- causing his opponent to be easily thrown onto the hard flagstone floor. The Hufflepuff held his hand out to his rival; aiding the Slytherin to his feet once more before they shared a grin, shook hands and accompanied each other out of the centre of the circles to allow two new opponents to take a stand while those around them cheered on their encouragement and congratulations.

The orange clad boy detached himself from the group and allowed his feet to lead him across the Great Hall - eyeing up the remaining two duels as he passed them; neither of the two duels seemed as impressive as the first, but Naruto could tell that those participating were using all their will power to defeat their opponents.

A fourth gathering of students stood separately from the three duelling circles; as he drew closer to the final group, Naruto instantly noticed that it was mainly composed of younger students from First Year through to Third Year - Professor Mizuki was supervising these students; he occasionally demonstrated how to perform the wand movements for simple spells while explaining the spell's properties as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using the spell. The students stood in two parallel lines; facing each other - Professor Mizuki had paired each student depending on their age while asking each student in turn to practise the Disarming Charm and the Protection Charm on each other.

"Well here's a familiar face." A voice from behind Naruto made the blond whirl around on the spot until he came face to face with Kakashi. "Long time no see, Naruto. I didn't realise you had joined the Duelling Club."

"I haven't... yet," Naruto shrugged slightly, "I heard a lot of people talking about it so thought I'd check it out."

"Good idea." Kakashi chuckled as he beckoned at the blond to follow him and began to lead the way towards Professor Mizuki's group. "Have you ever duelled before?"

"Unless you count fists, no." Naruto confided in the older wizard with a small mischievous grin.

"I'm afraid to say that fists won't get you very far here unless you're looking for a nice little chat with Professor McGonagall." Kakashi told the blond in a teasing tone. "We'll start you off with the basics - ah, Professor Mizuki!" Kakashi called out to the other man.

Professor Mizuki glanced in their direction; his face seemed to fall as his eyes fell upon Naruto and Kakashi, but he quickly shook it off and adopted his usual kind expression as he approached the pair after excusing himself from the student who he had been talking too.

"Is everything alright?" Professor Mizuki asked.

"You know Naruto, right?" Kakashi jerked a thumb at the blond Gryffindor.

"Mr Uzumaki." Professor Mizuki inclined his head at Naruto in greeting.

"He's never been to a Duelling Club session before, so I thought we could started him off with the basics and break him in gently," Kakashi explained to the other man, "reckon you can take him under your wing?"

"I've actually got another second year who joined today - he's in need of a partner too."

"Isn't that lucky?" Kakashi chuckled again. "I'll leave him in your care then, professor." He added as he gave Naruto and Professor Mizuki a small wave and turned his attention towards one of the duelling circles.

"Just this way please, Mr Uzumaki." Professor Mizuki motioned at the blond to follow his lead as he returned to his group of beginners. "I'm sure you two will get along very well together." The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher signalled towards the only student who did not have a partner.

Naruto felt his own face drop as his eyes fell upon a familiar face with sharp, dark eyes. Red triangular marks adorned each of the boy's cheeks; his face framed by a fur rimmed hooded jacket. His grey jacket was accompanied by trousers of a darker shade that reached down to his calves.

The boy's eyes widened as he turned to look at the blond. "N- Naruto?"

"Kiba?" Naruto blinked at the other boy in confusion. "W- what are you doing here?"

Kiba's expression quickly changed to a scowl. "It's a Duelling Club, what do you think I'm doing here? Picking daisies?"

"Oh, you do know each other?" Professor Mizuki clapped his hands together happily. "Well that saves time on introductions; shall we start with the Disarming Charm? Mr Uzumaki, would you mind helping me demonstrate it please?" The older man withdrew his own wand from the sleeve of his robes and motioned to Naruto to do the same.

Naruto obliged with the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's wishes and pulled his wand out of the waistband of his jumpsuit trousers as he readied himself into a defensive stance.

"Great, now watch my wand movements carefully, Mr Inuzuka." Professor Mizuki instructed as he readied his grip on his own wand.

The older man aimed the tip of the wand squarely at Naruto's chest - the blond felt himself tense involuntarily.

"Ready?" Professor Mizuki asked and waited until he received a hesitant nod from Naruto. The young teacher brought his wand downwards to form a spiral in the air while he called out, "Expelliarmus!" A red light issued from the end of the wand and hurtled toward the blond; forcing Naruto's wand to be pulled from his hand by an invisible force as the spell connected.

Naruto instinctively checked himself over and was surprised to find himself unscathed as he wand landed on the stone floor with a clatter.

"It can give you a bit of a start if you're caught unaware, are you okay?" Professor Mizuki asked the blond as he retrieved Naruto's wand from the ground and offered it to the orange clad boy.

"Yeah, thanks." Naruto took his wand back with a bemused expression.

"Sorry to put you on the spot like that, Mr Uzumaki." Professor Mizuki grinned apologetically before he then turned to Kiba. "I've just got to show, Mr Uzumaki the wand movements and then I'll leave you guys to practise the spell together, okay?"

Both boys nodded in unison and watched as Professor Mizuki demonstrated the Disarming Charm once more - using Kiba as his opponent this time.

"The Disarming Charm is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. Your main aim during a due should be to protect yourself and disarm your opponent; typically speaking, the duel is over as soon as you or your opponent has been disarmed. Your goal should not be to inflicted pain or harm to your opponent." Professor Mizuki gave both boys a stern glare before his expression swiftly changed to its usual kind and encouraging demeanour. "Just remember boys, pronounce your spells clearly; Ex-pell-ee-are-muss! And when you're ready we'll start working on the Protection Charm."

Professor Mizuki excused himself from the two boys as he continued down the line of students; commenting on and correcting their spell work or giving the other students helpful tips and pointers as he progressed.

Kiba waited until he was certain that Professor Mizuki was out of earshot before he withdrew his wand and turned his own attention towards his blond companion.

"So being on the Quidditch Team wasn't enough for you, huh?" Kiba shot at the blond. "Guess you decided you were going to come and show off here too."

"That's not the case at all." Naruto glared back at the brunette.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with." Kiba grasped his wand tighter and aimed it at Naruto before he mimicked Professor Mizuki's wand movements. "Expelliarmus!"

A feeble red spark issued from the end of the brunette's wand and Naruto felt his own wand give a small, futile tug but the wooden instrument otherwise remained quite still in his hand. Kiba blushed furiously and grimaced while Naruto continued to stare between Kiba and his own wand expectantly in silence.

"It's not like I was really trying," Kiba pouted as he fidgeted uncomfortably on the spot - seemingly more flustered by Naruto's gaze than his own attempt at the spell, "let's see you do better!"

Naruto prepared himself; reaffirming his grip on his wand and aiming it directly at Kiba as Professor Mizuki had done do before - despite the fact that Naruto knew he was only performing a Disarming Charm, something about aiming his wand at Kiba made Naruto feel uneasy. He felt his lips pull back into a slight grimace and watched at the tip of his own wand began to slowly descend.

"What're you waiting for?" Kiba huffed impatiently as he rolled his eyes the blond.

Naruto vaguely shook his head as he realigned his wand and performed the same motions that Professor Mizuki and Kiba had done beforehand.

"Expelliarmus!"

With a strong, red flash Kiba's wand flew from his hand and landed on the floor before it rolled to Naruto's feet while the brunette gave Naruto a taken aback stare. Naruto hastily picked Kiba's wand up and returned it to the other boy while avoiding any eye contact before returning to his previous position and waited for Kiba to try the Disarming Charm again.

Before Kiba could even utter the incantation again, the noise within the Great Hall increased; drawing the attention of the students around Naruto and Kiba towards one of the three duelling circles and making them move closer to get a clearing view of the duelling pair.

"What's going on?" Naruto muttered more to himself than anyone else; he then moved away from Kiba to join the crowd around the duelling circle that was stirring the other students' attention.

"H- hey! Where are you going? We were practising together!" Kiba called after the blond; he groaned irritably and rolled his eyes as Naruto brushed off his calls - the brunette then reluctantly decided to follow the other boy.

Naruto weaved between the other students as most of the occupants of the Great Hall began to gather around the same duelling circle while whispering and muttering excitedly to each other. The blond caught sight of a familiar pink haired girl who was wearing a red dress with two white circles decorating each shoulder; he shuffled and pushed his way through the pressing bodies until he found himself at the girl's side.

"Hey Sakura." Naruto tapped the pinked haired girl on the shoulder.

"Naruto?" Sakura squeaked as she gave a start and pivoted on the spot to face the orange clad boy. "I didn't realise that you were a member of the Duelling Club too."

Naruto cast his eyes about himself; noticing that the numbers around him mainly consisted of girls and very few boys.

"What's going on?" He asked the Ravenclaw.

"Don't you know?" Sakura's lips twitched into a small smile. "Sasuke's about to duel."

Naruto felt his eyes narrow as he regarded the pink haired witch with a cool stare, "so what? It's a Duelling Club, what makes Sasuke's duel so special?"

"It's just that Sasuke's quickly becoming an amazing duellist. He's learning spells at an incredible rate - even Professor Mizuki said that if he continues excel, his spell work could easily match that of a fourth year." Sakura began to spiel excitedly. "He's already top of all of our classes, but there's rumours that he's quickly catching up to the same reputation his brother; Itachi, had."

Naruto passed off Sakura's comments with a mere shrug and focused his attention towards the two figures who were now standing in the centre of the crowd; the first figure was that of Sasuke Uchiha who wore he usual Hogwarts attire while the other was a fourth year Ravenclaw student. After a mere nod at their opponent; Sasuke and the older teen instantly began to duel in a similar manner as the two boy that Naruto had watched when he had entered the Great Hall.

Naruto tried to keep his face as stoic as possible as he watched Sasuke dodge and dive between the older boy's hexes and jinxes while and firing his own spells as and when he could find an opening to do so. Flashes of coloured issued from both wands as they descended and looped through the air. Despite the fact that Sasuke and the other boy's movements weren't as smooth as well executed as the first pair that Naruto had seen, the blond could see why the ebony haired Slytherin had managed to gain much interest within the Duelling Club.

Naruto felt his irritation grow the more he watched Sasuke's duel.

 _"The rumours were true; he's evenly matched against older students. It's like he's not even scared of losing to this guy."_ Naruto balled his hands into fists and gave an annoyed grunt as he adverted his gaze from the raven haired boy and his duelling partner. _"No - he can't lose against this guy! How? How did he become this strong so fast?"_ The blond turned his glare back towards Sasuke. _"Why is there so much of a difference between us? I've spent so much time focusing on Sasuke and Sakura when I should've been getting stronger, I should've been focusing on my own efforts... that's it. I'm not going to be second best anymore, I won't lose to Sasuke!"_

As the thought crossed his mind, a low rumble and a flash of lightening flitted throughout the Great Hall as rain began to pour from the enchanted ceiling - causing the duel between Sasuke and the older student to cease while the other students screamed and tried to shield themselves from the downpour.

"It's alright, it's probably just a storm." Kakashi tried to reassure the retreating pupils as he retrieved his own wand. "Will you all just calm down? It's just a bit of water. Hey, Professor Mizuki, a little help over here?" He called out to the other man; who was stood in the middle of the Great Hall and stared fixatedly towards the spot where Sasuke and the other boy had been duelling moments beforehand.

Professor Mizuki's eyes snapped upwards and locked with Naruto's before he shook himself out of his stupor and hurried to Kakashi's side.

Naruto watched as Sasuke staggered out of the Great Hall while clutching at his shoulder. Something stirred in Naruto's memory - leaving the blond decide to pursue the ebony haired Uchiha.

"Hey!' Naruto called after the Slytherin as he sped up his pace to catch up to the other boy; he grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and whirled him around on the spot - forcing the raven haired boy to stop in his track and face the orange clad boy.

"What do you want?" Sasuke spat at the blond - he was still breathing heavily from his duel but he no longer clutched at his shoulder.

"You're in pain." Naruto stated bluntly.

"What?" Sasuke's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Your shoulder. It's been hurting you since the beginning of the school year, hasn't it? You should probably go to the Hospital Wing if it's causing you that much pain." The words tumbled out of the Gryffindor's mouth before he could stop himself; his tone became more and more venomous and he felt his face become stony with each word he spoke. "But I don't need to know anything about that, do I?"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke shot back at the blond as he let his arm drop away from his shoulder and fall back to his side; the ebony haired boy was uncomfortably aware that Naruto was watching his movements closely.

"I've seen you and Sakura whispering to each other between classes and in the Library and I've heard all about Kakashi's involvement too, y'know." Naruto's eyes narrowed into a glare. "You, Sakura and Kakashi are still in contact with Orochimaru, aren't you? And there's still something else you're hiding something from me - something that you've involved me in too - and I will find out what that is!"

"Have you gone mad?" Sasuke gave Naruto an incredulous stare. "Can you even hear yourself? Your -"

"Sasuke!" Kakashi's voice cut the young Slytherin's sentence short as the white haired man cross the threshold into the Entrance Hall. Kakashi's eye lingered over Sasuke's shoulder - in roughly the same place that Sasuke had grasped to earlier - before his eye briefly flickered in Naruto's direction. "I think we should discuss your progress in the Duelling Club and make a... personal development plan, if you will." He told the raven haired boy with an enthusiastic grin before he then turned to Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto. If you could excuse us." The older man didn't wait for a response from the young Gryffindor before he steered Sasuke towards the Marble Staircase while he animatedly began to talk about the choices that Sasuke could pursue if he were willing to work hard - leaving Naruto to stare after the pair until his anger ebbed away and he was left with his own thoughts.

* * *

A loud bang brought Naruto's attention back to his surroundings with a startled jump.

"Look alive, Uzumaki!" Came Stephanie Chapman's voice from somewhere above the blond. "This isn't the time to be day dreaming."

With a slight glance to his right, Naruto saw a small dent in the wooden bench that he was sitting on - just mere millimetres away from his hand.

"You didn't have to whack the bench with the handle of your broom, Stephanie!" Mira Yamada rushed to Naruto's side and began to check his hand.

"Yeah, you should be more careful with your broom - you'll break it if you're not careful." Jack Foster tutted and shook his head at the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

"Or you could've hurt Naruto!" Mira rounded on Stephanie after she had shot a quick glare at Jack.

"I didn't even touch him." Stephanie rolled her eyes irritably as she dismissed the matter and addressed the team as a whole. "Anyway, as I was saying, Quidditch Practise will take place every Wednesday after classes and we'll finish just before dinner - I'll see if I can get the stadium over a few weekends too; I think the Slytherin's have the stadium this weekend though, so I'll have to let you all know tomorrow. I've spent the summer revising and evaluating the strategies and tactics Hana taught us during our practise sessions last year and have now devised a new game plan based on your individual characteristics and talents -" Stephanie gave each team member a large roll of parchment as she spoke; each one adorned with long, detailed Quidditch plans and diagrams that moved around the page. "Our first match will be in November against the Slytherin Team - unfortunately I haven't been able to learn much about their new team except the fact that it's another all-boys team again this year, but I can assure you that the match will be as brutal as always."

Naruto glanced around to see that Alana Sturluson - a girl who was in her fourth year and had long, black hair; that was currently tied into a high ponytail, and honey coloured eyes - had blanched as she bit her lip nervously; making Naruto wonder if the girl was having seconds thoughts about joining the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

Kai Chambers and James Marshall - the remaining members of the Quidditch Team - were too busy frantically reading through the notes that had been passed to them by Stephanie to register what he had said.

Only Mira and Jack seemed to remain undeterred by the rolls of parchment and the information given to them by Stephanie.

"Either way, the match against Slytherin is the first match of the year, so I think that it would be best to end the game as quickly as possible." Stephanie continued; apparently oblivious to the thoughts of her peers. "That's where you come in -" the Quidditch Captain turned the face Naruto and gave him an expected grin.

"Me?" Naruto cocked his head at the older girl curiously. "Why me?"

"Word has already got out that you're the new Gryffindor Seeker -" Stephanie began.

"And a lot of people aren't happy about it." Jack snorted while Stephanie, James and Kai nodded in agreement. "You're too immature, you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble lately, you're the laughingstock of the school, barely anybody in your own house group trusts you, in fact -"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Naruto muttered through gritted teeth as anger boiled inside his chest. "But what's any of that got to do with Quidditch?"

"The other team will underestimate your abilities." Mira piped up happily. "The rest of the school is too caught up on your history of troublemaking that they probably won't take you as a serious opponent; but you're really perfect for the position of Seeker." The blonde girl elaborated.

"You're light-weight, small and your reflexes are surprisingly fast - we all saw you catch the golf ball during the tryouts." Jack rejoined the conversation. "We were surprised to see that your reflexes were faster when you were airborne, I don't think you even know how skilled you are on a broomstick."

"Weren't you insulting me just now?" Naruto muttered to himself as he regarded Jack with a nonplussed stare.

"We're going to use our Quidditch Practise session to hone your skills so all you have to worry about when we play against Slytherin in November is catching that Golden Snitch." Stephanie gave a triumphant smirk before she then turned to James. "Marshall, we're going to focus on your evasion skills and speed - you'll be working closely with Foster, Chambers and Sturluson. Chambers, your aim is on point but you need to practise your swing; you need more power behind it - you should watch Sturluson for a while, she's a natural Beater." The captained added with a grin at the dark haired girl. "You two will be working together to disrupt either Marshall's movements as much as possible with the Bludgers - you can aim at Uzumaki if you see him going for the Golden Snitch - Jack will be assisting your during this session. Uzumaki, you're with me."

After receiving nods of understanding from her team mates, Stephanie lead beckoned at the others to follow her as she headed out of the changes rooms to the Quidditch Pitch.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N:** Really quick update (that didn't make you guys wait months until it happened! \O/ ) but I hope that those of you who went to London MCM Comic Con this weekend had fun. I saw a post on Facebook so I thought I'd post it on here just in case I have any Muslim readers;_

 _"Ramadan has begun and I know that, especially in the UK right now, it's unusually hot. This is a reminder that if you feel as if you are going to pass out due to the heat, or if you need some water for any other reason, you should drink some water. You're not letting anybody down. Allah isn't going to be mad at you. There's a reason why the sick are exempt from fasting. It's important. Don't make yourselves ill" (taken from a post I saw on Facebook, I really felt that this was important to pass on)._

 _Please make sure you look after yourselves and those around you if you can, guys._

 _If there's anything you guy want to talk about, my inbox is always open._

 _Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!_

 _Say safe!_

 _~Fox_

* * *

Naruto woke up early on Sunday only to find that Kiba's bed was already vacant and the brunette was nowhere to be seen - Naruto quickly pushed the matter out of his mind; instantly assuming that Kiba had already descended down to the Gryffindor Common Room or decided to roam the castle with Akamaru as he had done over the course of the previous day too, and instead set about himself to wash and dress as quietly as he could so as not to wake the remaining three boys in the dormitory.

Naruto grabbed his schoolbag, quickly descended the stairs to the boys' dormitory and quickly crossed the Gryffindor Common Room without pausing to acknowledge whether or not Kiba was in the room before he departed from the Common Room through the portrait hole - this time he made sure that he closed the portrait cautiously to avoid waking the Fat Lady and causing another unnecessary argument with her or the other portraits that adorned the stone walls.

With his mind already set, the blond Gryffindor worked his way down to the lower floors of the castle - taking any shortcut that he could remember and carefully timing his footsteps in order to stepping onto a moving staircase at the wrong time. As soon as Naruto reached the Entrance Hall, he steered himself towards the right; where a small door that led to the castle's Dungeons was located, rather than his usual track into the Great Hall where he would usually eat his breakfast at this time.

Naruto tightened his grip on his schoolbag and pretended to check his watch as he passed through the door and began his descent to the Dungeons; hoping that his natural act wouldn't draw the attention of the other students passing in and out of the Great Hall - the blond wasn't expecting to run into any trouble, but if he did, he already had a back-up plan; he would tell anyone who questioned his motives that he merely sought Professor Snape's aid with his potions essay. He had even gone to the trouble of packing an uncompleted duplicate of his current Potions assignment for extra precautions.

Naruto smirked to himself as he shook his head wearily as he looped around the corridor. _"Why am I even going to these lengths? It's not like this bit of castle is restricted to everyone but the Slytherins, so why am I so worried?"_

He glanced about himself in search of a portrait that looked tall enough to be the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room but found himself frowning in confusion as he soon realised that the castle's Dungeons contained no such portrait; the decor of the Dungeons mainly consisted of suits of armour that were mounted on plinths every so often or eerie looking torches instead - of which the flickering flame cast questionable shadows on the stone walls and floor. The only doors that Naruto had happened across thus far were that of Professor Snape's classroom and the Potion Master's private store. A Slytherin student would pass Naruto every so often - heading in the opposite direction - only pausing for a fraction of a second to regard the blond with a questioning glance before continuing their journey towards the Great Hall.

"That's odd." Naruto murmured under his breath to himself as he passed the Potions Classroom for the third or fourth time. "I'm sure the Slytherin Common Room is in the Dungeons, but I can't see an entrance anywhere - so where are the Slytherin's coming from?" He glanced up and down the corridor before he stared down at his wristwatch once more with a grimace. "It's already half past eight, he'll be up already." The blond huffed as he was forced to resign his vigilant search and return to the Entrance Hall with a crestfallen expression.

"Naruto!" Bill crossed the Entrance Hall and clapped the blond on his shoulder in greeting. "Where did you disappear off to so early this morning?"

"I just wanted to talk to Professor Snape about the Potions essay he gave us." Naruto lied easily.

"I thought you finished that essay on Friday night." Bill asked slowly as he regarded his friend with a sceptical stare.

"Right," Naruto swore internally at Bill; he had forgotten that Bill had been sitting next to him when he had completed the essay, "I just wanted to get him to check through my work, but I couldn't find him so I guess it'll have to wait." Naruto chuckled and ruffled his hair subconsciously.

The redhead watched Naruto movements closely with an unconvinced expression. "Yeah right, like you would willingly go and talk to Professor Snape, besides if you were really unsure about an essay you would ask me, Kiba or Shikamaru to read through it for you."

"I couldn't find Shikamaru and you were still asleep." Naruto shrugged innocently.

Bill shook his head and heaved a sigh, "alright, fine. You'll tell me in your own time. Anyway, there's something else I wanted to ask you." Bill told the blond as he beckoned at his friend to follow him to up the Marble Staircase.

"What's that?"

"Kiba."

"Hmph."

"Oh, don't be like that." Bill sighed again. "I was just wondering if you had seen him this morning."

Naruto shook his head in response to Bill's question.

"Then I have another question, will you look for him with me?"

"He's probably walking around the school again, why are you getting so worried about him?"

"He went missing all day yesterday; he wasn't in the Great Hall for lunch, I couldn't find him in the Library and none of our other housemates saw him either - I even asked Lee." Bill told Naruto with a grimace; anyone who was a member of Gryffindor knew that starting a conversation with Rock Lee - no matter how trivial the subject - would always manage to turn into a speech about the springtime of youth before resulting into an almost impossible challenge from the ebony haired teen.

"You were pretty desperate then." Naruto chuckled more to himself

"I'm worried that he's overworking himself -"

"Or he's just sulking." Naruto added; earning himself a reproachful stare from the redhead. "Kidding! I was just kidding!"

"So will you help me look for him?"

Naruto gave Bill a calculating glance. "This isn't another one of your little plans to get us to talk again is it?"

"No, of course not." Bill held his hands up innocently. "But you two really do have to stop this ridiculous feud you've got." The redhead murmured before quickly adding, "in your own time, of course," under Naruto's stern glare.

"Alright, I'll help."

* * *

After checking what felt like the whole castle, Naruto and Bill had come no closer to finding their brunette friend - the pair had even gone so far as checking the school's Boathouse; knowing that Kiba would sometimes spend time watching the water or making use of the quiet area to take a quick nap or watch clouds with Shikamaru on the odd occasion.

"The only place we haven't checked is the school lawns, Quidditch Stadium, Owlery and the school's restricted sections." Bill told Naruto as the pair passed through the Clock Tower Courtyard towards the covered bridge.

"This feels pointless." Naruto frowned. "The castle's too big, he's probably already gone back to an area that we checked earlier."

"It's nearly time for lunch, so we'll just check the Owlery and the Quidditch Stadium before we head back to the castle - we'll cover most of the school's grounds travelling between the two." Bill suggested with an encouraging smile at the blond. "If we don't fid him, we'll just have wait and see if he turns up for lunch today."

"We don't have to look anymore." Naruto notified his redheaded friend as his eyes fell upon the missing boy in question.

Bill followed Naruto's gaze to see Kiba crossing over the covered bridge in their direction with Akamaru trotting along happily at his heels; the brunette was giving Naruto and Bill a curious stare as he approached them.

"There you are, we've been looking for you everywhere." Bill rounded on the brunette in a manner that reminded Naruto of a worrying mother - making the blond laugh to himself. "Where have you been?"

"I was just sending a letter to my mum and Hana from the Owlery." Kiba replied with a nonplussed expression while he pointed vaguely over his shoulder. "And I was just heading down to lunch, you coming or are you just gonna stand there and gawk at me some more?"

"Can you send ordinary owls to the Elemental Nations?" Bill asked curiously as he and Naruto pivoted on the spot to follow Kiba.

"Of course, why wouldn't you?" Kiba shrugged.

"I thought the Elemental Nations were unplottable." Bill pondered aloud. "So how would the owls know where to go?"

"Don't they have some sort of deep rooted animal navigation thing into their brains or something?" Kiba asked. "Maybe they just remember a place once they've been there."

"But loads of owls are able to post letters without the recipients address." Bill pointed out in an obnoxious tone.

"Would an owls still be able to deliver letters to a house under the Fidelius Charm?" Naruto enquired; feigning an interested expression.

"How am I supposed to know?" Kiba grunted at the pair.

"You're the animal guy." Naruto reminded the brunette.

"Yeah, I thought your mum and Hana were veterinarians or something." Bill teased.

"I am not the animal guy!" Kiba huffed. "I'm the dog guy! Owls are magical creatures anyway, right? If you wanna know more about them ask Shikamaru or Professor Kettleburn."

Naruto and Bill roared with laughter.

"Will you two stop it? Seriously, cut it out!" Kiba tried to remain stoic, but his friend's laughter caused the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards until he was grinning and laughing with them.

The three friends eventually calmed down; only occasionally giving a small snort or a snigger - which would nearly trigger each other off again.

"You guys aren't funny." Kiba smirked as he gave the blond a playful nudge; he stared at Naruto as the smile on his face faltered back into his sulky demeanour while Naruto mirrored the other boy's expressions - almost as through a switch had flicked in both boys' minds and the mere seconds where both Naruto and Kiba were glad to be in each other's presence and the happiness that they had shared was already forgotten.

Kiba cleared his throat and adverted his gaze from Naruto while the blond awkwardly ruffled his hair and allowed the silence to settle between the two of them.

With one final glance at Naruto, the brunette turned his attention to the redhead; who had been watching his friends with a deflated look on his face. "I need to talk to you alone later, Bill."

* * *

Naruto rolled his quill between his fingers as he cast his eyes towards the ebony haired Slytherin; whenever Professor Snape drew closer to his table, the blond would quickly pretend to jot down notes on the Girding Potion - but he would really be watching Sasuke out of the corner of his eye the whole time.

The Slytherin had taken to ignoring Naruto since the incident after Duelling Club - Naruto had accused the young Uchiha of being in contact with Orochimaru after all; he couldn't really say that he was surprised that he was now being shunned for his actions, but Naruto's mind was still reeling from the events of Sasuke's duel.

A strange sensation had swooped down on the blond before the lightning struck within the Great Hall; at the time Kakashi had simply explained that the rain that had flooded the Great Hall that night was caused by a storm outside the castle - but as far as Naruto could remember, the outside sky had been clear that night with no cloud in sight.

Naruto had instead focused his attention on the feeling that he had had before the lightning strike - he had felt something similar twice before; the first time had been on the same night that he had overheard Sasuke and Sakura talking in the school's Library and the second time had been when he overheard his peers talking about Orochimaru during their Herbology lesson. The outcome of both of these occasions has been the breaking of glass.

 _"When the glass broke the first two times, I felt angry before it happened."_ Naruto reencountered the scenes clearly in his head again; dropping his gaze down to his poised quill while he was deep in thought. _"But last time was different, I wasn't just angry -"_ his eyes flitted back towards Sasuke, _"- I was jealous too."_ The blond shook his head and gave a quiet, frustrated grunt as he scribbled another note onto his parchment. _"There's something else too, the first two times, I felt the energy stir up from inside of me but last time it felt disconnected - like it was around me, not inside of me. Why was it different this time?"_

"Will you stop that?" Sasuke's voice stirred Naruto out of his stupor.

"Stop what?" Naruto shot back at the Slytherin.

"You keep muttering under your breath and staring at me, it's quite distracting."

"Tell me what you're up to and I might stop."

"You're not going on about that again, are you?" Sasuke snapped.

The two boys fell silent and continued to scrawl across their pieces of parchment as Professor Snape passed their desk once more; reading the notes from his own copy of Magical Drafts and Potions.

"Look, I don't know where you've got this ludicrous idea from, but you need to stop before you get yourself or someone else in trouble." Sasuke whispered to Naruto harshly as soon as Professor Snape was out of earshot again.

"It's not like you to care about stuff like that." Naruto snorted. "Are you worried that I'm going to catch you out? There's something you aren't telling me and I promise you that I'm going to find out what it is." The blond added with a teasing smirk. "And while I'm at it, I'll make sure I get stronger than you too."

Sasuke's expression hardened as he glowered at the blond. "Is this some sort of game to you? I'm not asking you Naruto, I'm telling you to stop."

"Not a chance, I gave you my word and I won't back down." Naruto gave the ebony haired boy an affirming nod before letting his attention waver back towards his notes.

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get yourself into trouble over this! I'm having nothing more to do with it." Sasuke warned before he too returned his focus to the parchment in front of him.

* * *

Mid-October had brought relentless rain; causing the Quidditch Pitch and the grounds surrounding the castle to become waterlogged - this make any venture across the grass a muddy one. The corridors and towers of Hogwarts Castle quickly became drab and bitter; forcing students to travel from class to class in their winter robes in fear of catching a cold.

Many students would emerge from their Herbology lesson soaked to the core and with mud splattered along the hem of their trousers as evidence of their trudge across the school's lawns.

Almost all outdoor activities had been cancelled due to the insistent downpour - with the exception, of course, with Quidditch. Stephanie had her team mates attend Quidditch Practise sessions on any night that she could; whether it was raining or not. At first, her orders were met with complaints and groans from the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

"You think they'll cancel a match just for a bit of rain?" Stephanie shouted from her broomstick over the roaring wind. "Just think of this as extra practise, we'll be ready for all weathers at this rate."

"She's really taking this seriously, isn't she?" Naruto didn't trouble to keep his voice down as he spoke to James - he knew that there wouldn't be a chance of Stephanie overhearing his comment through the storm.

"Even so, this is ridiculous." James muttered back to the blond. "We'll catch pneumonia if we stay out in this much longer."

"She won't stop until she's satisfied." Naruto pointed out to the burly fifth year.

"Or until you catch that Snitch." James added with a small shrug.

"How am I supposed to find it in this? I can barely see beyond the handle of my broom!" Naruto burst out in frustration. "If the weather will be like this when we play against Slytherin, we've got no hope."

Alana frowned as she drew closer to the two boys before she raised her voice to shout over the wind, "hey Stephanie! I think it's time to call it a day!"

After weighing their option out in her mind and receiving yet more complaints from the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Stephanie finally relented and agreed to cancel the rest of their training session. She called out to her team to return to the ground and regroup in the changing rooms instead.

Naruto felt his knees buckle slightly as his feet sunk deeper into the ground than he had expected. He struggled to wrench his feet out of the mud before he and the rest of his team mates trekked back into the welcoming shelter of the changing rooms.

"Well I can't say that it wasn't a good practise." Stephanie said as she pulled her hair out of it's ponytail and draped a towel over her head.

"I can't feel my nose." Jack muttered.

"I'm so cold that I don't think I'm ever going to be warm again." James moaned.

"I ache all over." Came Alana's voice from the corner of the room as she stretched her arms above her head. "It's hard to keep your balance on a broom and swing a bat in gale force winds."

"She's got a point." Kai nodded at his fellow Beater.

"I think I lost the Snitch." Naruto sighed dejectedly as he dropped onto the bench.

Stephanie observed her groaning team with a thoughtful expression before turning to the remaining member. "You got anything to add?"

Mira gave a slight start as Stephanie addressed her before she shook her head with a pleasant smile; accidentally spraying more rainwater everywhere with her hair.

"Surely they wouldn't actually make us play in those conditions?" Kai asked Stephanie with a slight wince as he lowered himself onto the wooden bench beside Naruto. "I mean, there are storms and then there are... well that."

"It can't hurt to be prepared though, can it?" Stephanie pointed out. "Besides, any spies from the other houses can't see any of our tactics in this weather."

"We can't see any of our tactics either though." Jack chimed in. "I think I might've actually flown into one of the goalposts."

"Okay, maybe today was a bit too much, but next time I know we'll be better." Stephanie told the group. "We've just got to push ourselves a little bit more, the match against Slytherin is in three weeks. I'll save our next practise session until Wednesday to give us time to rest, but in our next session I'll monitor each of your movements until we find a new technique that fits everyone's abilities."

Stephanie's words were met with an assortment of low hums as the team set about themselves into changing back into their school robes and leaving the changing room one by one to head back up to the castle.

"Uzumaki, I actually wanted to speak to you." Stephanie approached the young blond. "Have you got yourself a broom yet?" She asked in a low voice as she eyed the shabby school broomstick that Naruto had been using during their practise session.

"Not yet, but I'm looking." Naruto lied as he ran a hand through his wet hair; in fact, between continuous Quidditch Practise, lessons and homework, Naruto barely had time to think about getting a new broomstick - he wasn't even sure where he should begin to look for one or how he should go about buying one; he wasn't keen on the idea of asking Stephanie for help either in the event that she would become irritated with him. "I'll definitely have one soon though."

"Good, just make sure you definitely get one before the match, you won't be much good on one of those school broomsticks if your opponent has a faster broom and I want you to be able to get the feel of your new broomstick too." Stephanie nodded knowingly. "You'll need to become accustomed to the speed and manoeuvring on your new broom."

Stephanie continued to murmur to herself as she pivoted on the spot and departed from the changing room; leaving Naruto to stare after her wearily.

"She can be a bit suffocating at times, can't she?"

Naruto turned to see that Mira had stayed behind and had been watching the encounter between Naruto and Stephanie with her usual pensive expression.

"She always seems so cold and distant from us." Naruto grimaced more to himself. "She's always pushing us to work harder, y'know."

"That's just the way she is, she doesn't mean to be like that." Mira confided in Naruto. "She just wants what's best for the team."

"About that." Naruto adverted his gaze to the floor. "During our first training session together, Jack said that a lot of people weren't happy about me being the new Seeker."

Mira surveyed Naruto closely before she replied, "that's true. Stephanie received a lot of judgement for her choice in picking you, but she knew what the consequences would be before she announced the new team - you've made quite the name for yourself, after all.."

"Then why did she pick me if she knew that I would only be a burden to her?"

"She wanted to give you the chance to redeem yourself." Mira chimed happily. "You've caused a lot of anger within our house, but now you've been given a chance to earn back the points you lost. Stephanie believes in second chances." Mira's expression softened as she gently placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Believe it or not, Stephanie has spent a lot of time standing up for you behind your back. She may seem distant and demanding on the Quidditch Pitch, but she really believes that you deserve the chance to prove yourself. Even Jack wasn't too pleased about Stephanie's decision at first, but we managed to talk him around to it."

Naruto cast his eyes towards the floor as a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"You're probably thinking that we only let you join the Quidditch Team to make amends for the trouble you've caused, but that's not true. You have a raw talent for Quidditch and I don't think you've realised that yet." The flaxen girl relinquished her grip on Naruto's shoulder before she then pivoted on the spot and headed towards the door of the changing room. "You just need to take your cocky mask off and have some more self-esteem is all."

* * *

Naruto loosened the knot on his tie as he stumbled towards his bed before he let his arms fall to his side and allowed himself to collapse forwards onto his bed; he was too tired to even acknowledge the damp clothes that clung to his skin after his walk back to the castle in the rain. Mira had tried her best to dry off her own and Naruto's robes with the Hot-Air Charm that she had taught herself - Naruto had made a mental note to remember the incantation that she had used for future reference.

As the blond fell onto his bed, he felt something crinkle uncomfortably under his chest as he made contact with his bed. With an irritable sigh, the blond reluctantly rolled onto his side and pulled a magazine out from beneath himself.

The glossy front cover of the magazine featured an older blonde woman in an emerald green knitted jumper that had a golden talon embroidered upon the breast. The woman was leaning against her broomstick while she grinned widely as a camera flashed. Large, bolded letters across the top of the magazine read _'Which Broomstick?'_

Naruto sat up on the edge of his bed and began to flick through the pages of the magazine; he paused every so often to read about one of the sponsored broomsticks or look at an article about broom care.

A small, metallic click stirred Naruto's attention away from the magazine as a redheaded figure crossed the threshold into the dormitory.

"There you are." Bill said as his eyed fell on Naruto. "I was starting to think that you'd miss dinner."

"I've only just got back from Quidditch practise." Naruto slowly closed the magazine in his hands and let his gaze linger over the woman on the front cover. "Did you leave this on my bed?" The blond asked; holding up the issue of _Which Broomstick?_ for Bill to see.

"No." Bill gave the magazine a bemused stare as he crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside Naruto. "It's a catalogue; someone must've known that you don't have a broomstick of your own." The redhead took the issue from Naruto's hands and examined the text on the cover that the blond had ignored before. "No way! This has an exclusive interview with Glynnis Griffiths!"

"Glynnis- who?" Naruto cocked his head at Bill while the other boy rifled through the pages in search of the interview with the woman in question.

"She was a Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies; she played in a seven day match against the Heidelberg Harriers." Bill explained as he smoothed the pages out on his desired article and began to skim read through the text. "She retired now though, I think she spends a lot of time writing articles for Seeker Weekly now."

"A seven day match?" Naruto felt his jaw drop as a chill ran down his spine. "How did they manage to keep playing for that long?"

"They just switch the players out for substitutes when they become too tired to carry on playing and then rejoin when they're ready." Bill shrugged. "Don't worry, you won't be caught in a situation like that." He added with a laugh when he caught sight of Naruto's uneasy expression. "You should really give this a thorough read through this, it has some really good tips about buying brooms and even tells you how to look after and service your broom. I don't know who left this for you, but it seems like they want to help you out."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "I just wish I knew who left it here."

"Ask around a little, someone's bound to know." Bill rose to his feet once more and stretched before he dropped the magazine on Naruto's bed again; leaving the picture of Glynnis Griffiths to grin at the canopy of the four poster bed. "Come on, we'll miss dinner if we don't hurry up."


End file.
